Truth
There may be no single definition of truth that covers all the possible permutations of the word. Certainly defining truth has been a task that has kept philosophers busy for a few thousand years.
Because of this, this article has been structured to provide sections on each of several uses of truth, with links to the important articles in each.
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2 Theories of truth 3 Truth in logic 4 Quotations 5 Major philosophers who have worked with theories of truth 6 See also 7 References |
To tell the truth at law
When you are asked to testify at law truthfully, you are not being asked for absolute truth but for a good faith attempt to recount your memory of an observed event. That what one says may differ from true accounts of other witnesses is a commonplace of practical law.
Theories of truth
The study of truth is part of epistemology. Sentences, propositions, statements, ideas, beliefs, and judgments can be true, and are called truth bearers by philosophers. There are, roughly speaking, four broad theories about truth that philosophers and logicians have discussed. Each of these theories defines truth differently.
- The correspondence theory of truth defines truth as correspondence with reality.
- The deflationary theory of truth (also called the redundancy theory of truth) defines truth as a redundant logical function. Is true on this account means the same as is. To assert that a statement is true is just to assert the statement itself.
- The semantic theory of truth definies truth as a function in a metalanguage. It states that a sentence is true only if its translation is true in the metalanguage.
- The epistemic theories of truth define truth in epistemological terms, that is, in terms of what is known. There are three common variations of this theory:
- The coherence theory defines truth as coherence with some set of statements
- The consensus theory defines truth as something agreed upon by some social group.
- Pragmatism defines truth as the success of the practical consequences of an idea, i.e. its utility.
Truth in logic
- Logic
- Modal logic
- Truth conditions
- Truth function
- Truth table
- Truth value
Quotations
- "To say of what is, that it is, or of what is not, that it is not, is true." - Aristotle in Metaphysics (Book 4)
- "Truth - Something somehow discreditable to someone." — H.L. Mencken
- "Truth exists - only lies are invented." — Georges Braque
- "To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And, at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between, plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big 'thing'. This is truth, to me." — Jack Handey
- "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." — Sherlock Holmes (in "A Scandal in Bohemia" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
- "What is truth?"Pontius Pilate,The gospel of John.
- "I am the truth and the light none come unto the Father except by me." Jesus Christ
- "What is truth? Said jesting Pilot, but would not stay for an answer" Francis Bacon, Essays1: Of Truth
Major philosophers who have worked with theories of truth
See also
References
- Blackburn, S and Simmons K. 1999. Truth. Oxford University Press. A good anthology of classic articles, including papers by James, Russell, Ramsey, Tarski and more recent work.
- Field, H. 2001. Truth and the Absence of Fact. Oxford.
- Horwich, P. Truth. Oxford.
- Habermas, JÃÂürgen. 2003. Truth and Justification. MIT Press.
- Kirkham, Richard 1992: Theories of Truth. Bradford Books. A very good reference book.
- http://www.ditext.com/tarski/tarski.html Tarski's classic 1944 paper on the Semantic Conception of Truth online.
- Williams, Bernard. 2002. Truth & Truthfulness: an essay in genealogy. Princeton University Press