Realists might claim that paradoxes of self-reference can be theorized away but the question remains: how can language describe its own relationship to the world? Rather than being true or false, language is a tool to be judged by its usefulness. From holocaust denial to Trump’s election win, the way to counter problematic opinions is not a decree of falsity but by a demonstration of their worthlessness when engaging with the world, writes Hilary Lawson.
In response to criticisms that I made of realism in my previous article, Timothy Williamson has two primary lines of response. The first is that while the paradoxes of self-reference might not have been solved we have possible strategies. And the second is a counter-challenge to postrealism that if there is no truth there is also no falsity, and that cannot be a viable position. Yet, neither of these addresses the failures of realism, and they misunderstand the force and potential of postrealism.
Let me begin with self-reference. Moving on from his original claims of 'progress' by Tarski and Kripke, Timothy Williamson cites others who have possible strategies to formulate a consistent logic that incorporates self-reference. The claim is that unlike Tarski they avoid the problem of arbitrarily outlawing self-reference by allowing self-reference but changing the 'principles about truth to not apply in some cases'. Yet in effect this amounts to the same thing. In fact Tarski's own account could be described in this way since his hierarchy of languages succeeds only by providing an account of truth - namely that no language is allowed to contain its own truth predicate - that at once makes genuine self-reference impossible. In these instances the definitions of truth are formulated to outlaw what would otherwise be paradoxical self-referential claims.
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