This particular story introduces what seems like it should be an extraneous detail: Bob, in saying he doesn’t carry cash, is intending to deceive. But our everyday concept of truth is related somehow to honesty; the truth is what a well-informed and honest person would say. Bob here is being dishonest (he wants the mugger to believe something Bob thinks is false) and misinformed, so his dishonesty fails at his goal of protecting his cash. This goal is already lost. Knowing that, the question “but is his statement true?” seems to be unneeded essentialism.
Knowing that, the question “but is his statement true?” seems to be unneeded essentialism.
My impression is that this is what the whole debate is about. What matters to Corresponders is whether or not statements describe reality. Bob’s statement correctly predicts whether or not he has cash on him- and “correct prediction” is their standard for truth. They wouldn’t care that his dishonesty and misinformation cancel each other out, but would agree that in general dishonesty and misinformation lead to less correct predictions.
Typical examples of the difference between correspondence and epistemic have to do with people being right on accident. For example:
Is Bob’s statement true? Is it a justified true belief?
Correspondence would say that Bob did tell the truth, but epistemic would say that Bob’s statement, though true, was unjustified.
The philosophers call these Gettier problems.
This particular story introduces what seems like it should be an extraneous detail: Bob, in saying he doesn’t carry cash, is intending to deceive. But our everyday concept of truth is related somehow to honesty; the truth is what a well-informed and honest person would say. Bob here is being dishonest (he wants the mugger to believe something Bob thinks is false) and misinformed, so his dishonesty fails at his goal of protecting his cash. This goal is already lost. Knowing that, the question “but is his statement true?” seems to be unneeded essentialism.
My impression is that this is what the whole debate is about. What matters to Corresponders is whether or not statements describe reality. Bob’s statement correctly predicts whether or not he has cash on him- and “correct prediction” is their standard for truth. They wouldn’t care that his dishonesty and misinformation cancel each other out, but would agree that in general dishonesty and misinformation lead to less correct predictions.