6. Truth Theory

Question 1

Truth Theory:

Answer 1

distinguish between PURE ESSENCE and TRUTH AND FALSITY

distinguish between REALISM and ANTI-REALISM

1. Platonism
2. Correspondence of Facts
3. Coherence of Beliefs
4. Pragmatism

Question 2

1. PLATONISM
   (2 meanings)

Answer 2

1. word “true” describe the essence of something (ex. true marriage)
2. telling the truth about the way things are or are not contrasts with falsity.
   Truth and reality aren’t the same! There are many truths about falsities for example “it’s true that there is snow in Narnia.”

Question 3

2. CORRESPONDENCE OF FACTS

Answer 3

“to say of what is that it is not, or of what is not that it is, it is false, while to say of what is that it is, and of what is not that it’s not, is true.” – Aristotle.

Very generally speaking, Truth is found in ‘facts’. The success of Correspondence Theory depends upon access to ‘facts’.

Q. “what can or should count as a fact?”

Question 4

3. COHERENCE OF BELIEFS

Answer 4

What justifies a belief is not some “fact” but rather some other belief. There can be no false facts, so all we can do is examine the quality of the belief itself. This is less of a theory of truth and more of a theory of epistemic justification.

Question 5

foundationalism (under coherence of beliefs)

Answer 5

The theory that beliefs acquire their support or justification from more foundational truths – typically truths that are self-evident, more basic, more certain. “How do we ground our beliefs?”

Question 6

coherentism (under coherence of beliefs)

Answer 6

rejects foundationalism. Justification is a non-hierarchical relation among beliefs. No one belief has epistemic privilege. “the beliefs that stick to my web are true” Truth claims either stick or don’t stick. What we’ve got is a web of beliefs.

Question 7

Pragmatism

Answer 7

“operationalizes” beliefs: truth is whatever works. Truth is whatever your friends let you get away with saying.

Quote: “In the end, the pragmatists tell us, what matters is our loyalty to other human beings clinging together against the dark, not our hope of getting things right.”

Question 8

Truth Bearers: (4)

Answer 8

Can words be true? No, no word by itself is true

Can sentences be true? The line itself remains just a line of text, sentences alone cannot bear truth.

Can mental states be true? Philosophers argue that perception of an object and the belief about the object are two different things. Some mental states, images, and perfections are not truth bearers.

Can people be true? People can be real but to ask if they are true, is a pseudo-question. People are not truth bearers. Ex. God Himself cannot bear the property of “true” but we can say or assert true or false things about God.

What’s left?

• Words aren’t true until they’re arranged in a way to propose, assert, or say things.
• Mental states aren’t true until they generate a belief about “things”
• People aren’t true but the “things” they say, believe or explain can be.