I really wanted to help, because you’re helping me with the free will thing, but I could only manage to skim the essay. I take it that the naive view of truth is supposed to be the disquotational or deflationary view. This is to say that the assertion
‘Snow is white’ is true.
is identical content-wise to the assertion
Snow is white.
To say that something is true is just to assert that thing, and asserting it is sufficient to say that it’s true. In other words, we can for most purposes just do without the word ‘true’ (though things are more complicated for ‘false’).
we can for most purposes just do without the word ‘true’
One useful distinction is between asserting a proposition and explaining its meaning. The meaning of “snow is white” can be discussed apart from the question of whether it’s true, so saying that it’s true serves to indicate that we are discussing its truth and not (just) its meaning.
I really wanted to help, because you’re helping me with the free will thing, but I could only manage to skim the essay. I take it that the naive view of truth is supposed to be the disquotational or deflationary view. This is to say that the assertion
is identical content-wise to the assertion
To say that something is true is just to assert that thing, and asserting it is sufficient to say that it’s true. In other words, we can for most purposes just do without the word ‘true’ (though things are more complicated for ‘false’).
One useful distinction is between asserting a proposition and explaining its meaning. The meaning of “snow is white” can be discussed apart from the question of whether it’s true, so saying that it’s true serves to indicate that we are discussing its truth and not (just) its meaning.