Is the concept of truth needed for semantics?
Michael Dummett · 2019
The question posed in the title appears absurd at first sight. A semantic theory is often characterized as a theory specifying in detail how sentences of a given language are determined as true or otherwise in accordance with their composition: so how could truth not be an indispensable notion of any semantic theory? On reflection, we must recognize that the popularity of minimalist theories of truth indicates that their adherents believe either that the notion of truth is not needed for a semantic theory, or that semantic theories are at best otiose, at worst misconceived. For a minimalist theory of truth is incompatible with a semantic theory in which the notion of truth plays a role.