What is a correspondence theory of truth?

Douglas Patterson

pp. 421-444

in: Synthese 137 (3), 2003.

Abstract

It is often thought that instances of the T-schema such as“ ‘snow is white’ is true if and only if snow is white” state correspondences between sentences andthe world, and that therefore such sentences play a crucial role in correspondence theories oftruth. I argue that this assumption trivializes the correspondence theory: even a disquotationaltheory of truth would be a correspondence theory on this conception. This discussionallows one to get clearer about what a correspondence theory does claim, and toward the end of thepaper I discuss what a true correspondence theory of truth would involve.