Ramsey´s Pragmatic Theory(ies)

Frank Plumpton Ramsey was one of the most brilliant and notable scholars of the twentieth century. In philosophy, Ramsey is, perhaps, best known for developing the theory of subjective probability, and for his contribution to the debate on truth. In Facts and Propositions (1927), barely in 2 pages Ramsey presents a theory which became known as his redundancy theory of truth inspiring every modern deflationary theory of truth. He showed that the predicate is true can be eliminated from certain propositions without effecting their meaning. For Ramsey these 2 pages were no more than a statement of an obvious fact. Ramsey did not want to present a theory of truth. His goal was to present a logical analysis of the term belief, which did not presuppose the concept of truth. He held that truth and belief must be investigated together if we are to understand both notions. Ramsey states that a belief is a disposition to act if certain preferable circumstances were present and a disposition to act as if the believed proposition were true. Due to his premature death, however, he was never able to complete his theory. Ramseys philosophy has been interpreted a number of times, however, not always in a clear and coherent manner, not to mention in accord with Ramseys ideas. Some philosophers present theories greatly influenced by Ramseys philosophy not giving him the credit he deserves. The primary goal of this project is to comprehend Ramseys explications of the notion of belief and to see how they are connected to his at- titude towards truth. My objective is to determine whether beliefs, as interpreted with Ramseys pragmatic approach, can be seen as aiming at truth. My further aim is to examine different interpretations of Ramseys investigations into belief, among them success semantics, and determine to what extent Ramseys ideas can be seen as an inspiration to these developments. Through my individual cooperations with the members of Kurt Godel Research Center I will be able to fully understand Ramseys philosophical investigations, as they are clearly influenced by his mathematical mind. Furthermore, I will apply the methods of mathematical logic for the analysis of his theories. My investigations into Ramseys philosophy form basis for a new theory of belief. It will fill in the gap not only in the still incomplete study of Ramseys legacy, but also in the current debate regarding theories of belief, truth and pragmatism. Therefore, the final goal of my project is to present a novel theory of belief based on Ramseys ideas, which will contribute significantly to todays discussions on belief, meaning, pragmatism and truth.

My project dealt with philosophy of Frank Ramsey, a British philosopher and mathematician who made great contribuitions to today's discussions on belief, knowledge, truth, probability and decision theory and so much more. I focused on his concept of belief and truth and through my research was able to argue that these notions are very closely connected in Ramsey's work and it is impossible to explain one of them without the other. Moreover, for Ramsey any consideration of belief is also connected to the agent's actions. All of our beliefs, full or partial, rest upon our actions and are expressed through them. That means that Ramsey considers mental states to be beliefs only if we act on them at some point. Another important discovery of mine regarding Ramsey's philosophy was that for him, all beliefs: full or partial, are to some extend uncertain. Even if we have a full belief that it is going to rain soon because it is very dark and windy, we cannot be certain of it. There always is an element of uncerainity since our beliefs are subjective, and we humans are not perfect agents incapable of mistakes. Only knowledge can be certain. Ramsey defines knowledge as a belief which is true, certain and obtained by a reliable process, incapable of being false.