The truth-functional hypothesis does not imply the liar’s paradox

Autores

  • Matheus Martins Silva

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4013/fsu.2016.173.12

Resumo

The truth-functional hypothesis states that indicative conditional sentences and the material implication have the same truth conditions. Haze (2011) has rejected this hypothesis. He claims that a self-referential conditional, coupled with a plausible assumption about its truth-values and the assumption that the truth-functional hypothesis is true, lead to a liar’s paradox. Given that neither the self-referential conditional nor the assumption about its truth-values are problematic, the culprit of the paradox must be the truth-functional hypothesis. Therefore, we should reject it. In this paper I argue that, contrary to what Haze thinks, the truth-functional hypothesis is not to blame. In fact, no liar’s paradox emerges when the truth-functional hypothesis is true; it emerges only if it is false.

Keywords: material implication, truth-functional hypothesis, liar’s paradox.

Biografia do Autor

Matheus Martins Silva

PhD in Philosophy (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul)

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Publicado

2016-12-30

Edição

Seção

Philosophy South