‘True Gradability’ Dr Poppy Mankowitz - Philosophy Departmental Research Seminar
19 January 2022 - 19 January 2022
3:00PM - 4:30PM
PO005 or online via Zoom (to be confirmed via email in advance)
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Departmental Research Seminar for students and staff
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Seminar
Our departmental research seminar talks will take place on Wednesdays during term time from 15:00 to 16:30.
Each week an email will be circulated to students with full details of about speaker and the talk taking place (including whether it will be online or in person). Up to date details and information can also be found via the Philosophy Student SharePoint, events section (link here).
This week's speaker is Dr Poppy Mankowitz from the University of Bristol
Poppy Mankowitz is Research Associate on the ERC project 'Truth and Semantics', at the University of Bristol. Previously, Poppy was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Salzburg. Poppy attained a PhD in Philosophy in 2018, at the Arché Philosophical Research Center, in the University of St Andrews.
Poppy works primarily on the philosophy of language, semantics and metaphysics. Her current research interests include: information structure, quantifier expressions, quantifier variance, verbal and metalinguistic disputes, and semantic paradoxes.
‘True Gradability’
Are there degrees of truth? The way that ordinary speakers use the word ‘true’ might suggest an affirmative answer. For there seem to be cases where speakers describe truth-bearers as ‘slightly true’, ‘completely true’ or ‘very true’. The standard linguistic analysis of such claims would rely on degrees of truth. Yet the view that there are degrees of truth is difficult to reconcile with most existing theories of truth. Based on work in natural language, I will argue that ‘true’ is not a genuinely gradable expression. I will also provide an explanation of the linguistic evidence that seems to suggest otherwise.