CFP: On the Metaphysics and Semantics of Truthmaking

The Philosophy of Science (Filozofia Nauki) invites submissions for a special issue of the journal devoted to problems of truthmaking

The common pre-theoretical view has it that truth somehow depends upon what reality is like. This intuition finds its philosophical expression in the relation of truthmaking, which is a dyadic relation between something on the side of language or thought (a truthbearer) and something on the side of being (a truthmaker).

 Although the notion of truthmaking seems to be so obvious that it is difficult to argue for it, it has become a breeding ground for a plurality of disputes. Thus, philosophers argue over what truthbearers are (sentences, propositions, beliefs, judgments), what truthmakers are (facts, existing facts, states of affairs, objects), and what the nature of the relation between them is. Importantly – as some have argued – despite its intuitive force, giving a precise explication of the notion of truthmakers leads to questions about its plausibility and theoretical significance.

 The last decade shows a kind of a revival of truthmaking. Yet this revival moves the burden of exploring the notion of truthmaking from metaphysics to semantics, resulting in a novel approach to questions about the semantics of conditionals, hyperintensionality, subject-matter, partial content, paradoxes, and many others.

 The special issue of The Philosophy of Science (Filozofia Nauki) aims to explore the question of truthmaking from both metaphysical and semantical perspectives. Accordingly, we would like to invite papers that focus on the question such as:

- the nature of truthmakers,

- the nature of truthbearers,

- properties of the relation of truthmaking,

- the relation between semantics and metaphysics of truthmakers,

- the possible applications of truthmaker semantics,

- truthmaking and grounding,

- truthmaking and modality,

- truthmaking and hyperintensionality,

- the theoretical significance of truthmaking.

 The Philosophy of Science (Filozofia Nauki) is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal of philosophy in the analytic tradition. It is indexed by the Web of Science and Scopus.

We invite original contributions written in English. The manuscripts should be submitted by March 31, 2023. All papers included in the volume will have been peer-reviewed. Manuscripts can be submitted either through our website [submit an article] or emailed to [email protected].

Before submitting a manuscript, please consult the author guidelines at https://www.fn.uw.edu.pl/index.php/fn/about/submissions.

If you should have any questions, do not hesitate to write us at [email protected]

Guest-editor: Maciej Sendłak, Ph.D.

University of Warsaw, Department of Philosophy