Does truth matter?

ToK - Truth

What does it mean to say something is true?

ToK - Truth

ToK - Truth

ToK - Truth

ToK - Truth

“Truth is what stands the test of time” Einstein

“A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it.”

Wilde

“Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”

Einstein

ToK - Truth

How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg?

Four: calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg

ToK - Truth

“The truth, of course, is that a billion falsehoods told a billion times by a billion

people are still false.” Travis Walton

ToK - Truth

To say something “is true”

is much less problematic than to

say it is “the truth”.

Why?

ToK - Truth

There are three main theories of what is meant by, “x” is true....

ToK - Truth

i. Correspondence Theory:(Going and looking;

observational truths)

ToK - Truth

“A true proposition must correspond to or match

a state of affairs in the world.”

ToK - Truth

ToK - Truth

Directions - True

Distances - True

Shapes - True

Areas - True

It corresponds to the real world - it is true and accurate

Mercator’s Projection

Easier to use but how well does it correspond to reality?

ToK - Truth

ii. Coherence Theory:(Sitting and thinking;

logical truths)

ToK - Truth

According to this view, a proposition is true

if it is consistent with all the other

propositions we hold.

ToK - Truth

If the pieces fit together they are coherent - like the pieces of a Jigsaw Puzzle

ToK - Truth

When the pieces of an argument do not

fit together they are incoherent –

and we do not accept

the argument as true.

ToK - Truth

ToK - Truth

Coherent - but......

iii. Pragmatism(does it work?;

practical truths)

ToK - Truth

The meaning of an idea is to be found

in an examination of the consequences to

which it would lead (C. S. Peirce)

ToK - Truth

A proposition is true if it works

or is useful in practice

ToK - Truth

Thus pragmatists hold that truth is

not absolute, but modified as

discoveries are made, and that it is

therefore relative to the time, place

and purpose of inquiry.

ToK - Truth

Examples of beliefs.....

1. true and useful?

2. true but not useful?

3. not useful and not true?

ToK - Truth

ToK - TruthTheory CriticismsCorrespondenceA proposition is true if it corresponds to a fact

1.The correspondence theory requires the existence of all sorts of ghostly facts to which true statements are supposed to correspond2. Since there is a gap between language and the world, correspondence can never be perfect3. We cannot determine the truth or falsity of a proposition in isolation from other propositions

CoherenceA proposition is true if it fits in with our overall set of beliefs

1. Coherence is not sufficient for truth. A fairy tale may be perfectly coherent, but it is still a fairy tale.2. With a little ingenuity, any crazy belief can be made to appear coherent.3. A knowledge claim that does not fit in with your way of thinking might still be true.

PragmaticA proposition is true if it is useful or works in practice

1. A proposition can be true but not useful, and useful but not true.2. Pragmatic theory implies that two contradictory beliefs could both be true.3. ‘Useful’ and ‘works in practice’ are too vague to get us very far.

Footnotes

Other theories and approaches:

ToK - Truth

A cubist approach to truth …

ToK - Truth

To know what is true we need to look at many different perspectives

and try to combine them in a coherent way

that corresponds to reality

There are also those who are, to a greater or lesser degree,

doubtful of our ability to attain the truth, and therefore of the possibility

of any knowledge: this kind of critical outlook is called

‘Scepticism‘.

ToK - Truth

Relativism - argues that there is (or, we can have) nothing other

than our different outlooks

ToK - Truth

Instead of trying to give and use a definition of absolute or universal truth, we can only study how the concept of truth has been and is being used in particular societies.

Foucault

ToK - Truth

ToK - Truth

“Keep the company of those who seek the truth, and run away from those

who have found it” Havel

Does the word truth mean the same thing in each of these cases:

1. It is the truth that a triangle has 3 sides.

2. ‘There is ice at the North Pole’ is the truth.

3. There is real truth in that painting.

4. Ain’t that the truth!

5. This scripture is God’s truth.

ToK - Truth