Chapter 6 : Truth

traditional view of knowledge

says that it is a justified, true belief.

correspondence theory

says that a proposition is true when it agrees with or corresponds to a fact.

coherence theory

says that truth is a property of a related group of consistent and accepted beliefs, and a particular belief is true if it coheres with the group of accepted beliefs

pragmatic theory

of truth holds that there are no absolute and unchanging truths

deflationists

argue that because “is true” adds nothing to a statement, it has no substantive meaning; hence, they reject all three theories of truth.

The standard theory of matter

is a scientific theory that holds that everything is composed \n of four kinds of particles held together and acted upon by four forces

the Copernican theory

says that the earth and the planets revolve around the sun

instrumentalist

view of scientific theories is based on the pragmatic view of truth; a theory is acceptable if it lets us make accurate predictions about experiments and observations.

realist

view of scientific theories based on the correspondence theory of truth and says a theory is true if the entities, properties, and relationships that it describes *correspond* to real entities, properties, and relationships in the world.

conceptual

view of scientific theories is based on Kuhn and the coherence theory of truth.

*Hermeneutics*

is the study of interpretations.

foundationalists

argue that our nonbasic beliefs are justified by basic beliefs, otherwise our beliefs would ultimately depend on unjustified beliefs.

Coherentists

argue that our nonbasic beliefs are not justified by basic beliefs; instead beliefs are justified if they fit into a coherent system of consistent and mutually supportive beliefs that we accept, and they are unjustified if they cannot fit into this system or “web” of belief.

the correspondence theory of truth

A true interpretation is one that corresponds to what the author (God for Aquinas, the human author for the others) intended.