DEFINITIONS OF TRUTH

• Philosophers have been compared to Pontius Pilate in their concern about what truth is.

• This concern arises from respectable motives and is of great importance for our overall philosophical outlook.

• A key issue is deciding on the criterion or criteria of truth.

• When considering the definition of truth, there are three main theories in the field.

THE CORRESPONDENCE THEORY

• The theory states that truth consists in or depends on a relation between a belief or piece of knowledge and a fact in the real world.

• This is the common-sense theory of truth, assuming beliefs about the physical world are true or false based on correspondence with facts.

• Example: My belief that the room contains a table is true because it corresponds to the facts; belief in an elephant in the room is false as it does not correspond.

• This applies equally to beliefs about minds or experiences (e.g., believing one had toothache is true only if toothache actually occurred).

• Three perversions of this theory to beware:

  (a) The terms ‘belief’ or ‘judgement’ may refer either to the mental state or to what is believed.

  • The mental state of believing is not true or false; only what is believed (a proposition) can be true or false.

  • Propositions are the proper objects of truth; statements are true only insofar as they represent propositions.

  • Philosophers may hypostatize propositions, treating them as independent entities, but this is questionable.

  • Without minds, facts exist, but truth depends on minds judging propositions.

  • Truth can be seen as a hypothetical relation: if a mind judges S is P, the judgement would be true if it corresponds to fact.

  (b) The word correspondence should not be taken as a picture or likeness in the mind.

  • Judgements are not like the physical things they refer to; imagery may resemble things but is not necessary.

  • We can judge using words, which do not resemble what they represent.

  • Therefore, correspondence does not mean copying or resemblance.

  (c) The theory must not imply that we are only aware of our judgements or propositions and never of the real itself.

  • If so, we could never know if judgements correspond to reality.

  • Example: You cannot tell if a photograph is a good likeness of a person you have never seen.

• The correspondence theory often fell into these mistaken forms, leading philosophers to seek other theories that avoid the notion of correspondence altogether.