Philosophies of Truth

Victoria Sample

Mr. Lindow
British Literature
March 30th, 2015

Truth is one of the most important concepts in life. Everyone uses truth to hold
beliefs and make decisions. Throughout history, many philosophers have tried to define
the answer to what is truth? approaching it from different directions such as logic,
language, and religion. Modern philosophers of the 20th century have had many
different theories of the nature of truth. In some cases, truth is connected with reality, as
in the work of Bertrand Russell. Others, including William James, believe that truth is
made due to its practical effects. Still other philosophers have attempted to define truth
through logical proof, like Alfred Tarski. What all these theories lack, however, is the
knowledge that truth comes from the one and only true God.
Bertrand Russell was an influential philosopher whose work greatly contributed
to the foundation of the correspondence theory of truth. Living from 1872 to 1970, his
most important works about the subject of truth include The Principles of Mathematics
(1903), Philosophical Essays (1910), and The Problems of Philosophy (1912) (Irvine).
The most basic idea of the correspondence theory is that a belief is true when it
corresponds to a fact (David). In somewhat more technical terms, a proposition, which
is a belief construed in language, is true if and only if there is a corresponding fact, with
a fact being defined as something as it exists in reality. Branching into epistemology,
Russell also makes the distinction between two kinds of the knowledge of truth. One can
have a direct knowledge of a truth only if he has an acquaintance through a direct
cognitive relation with the object that the truth is based upon (Irvine). In contrast,
indirect truth is based upon the knowledge of truths of other objects. Eventually,
everything comes down to the knowledge of objects, rather than the knowledge of
truths.

There are several conflicts with regards to the correspondence theory. First is the
slightly hazy idea that there can be no false propositions. According to Russell, false
propositions occur because of fact-like things, which makes the false propositions true
to their corresponding fact-like thing (Glanzberg). This could be construed to reason
that nothing is false, although Russell still claims that there can be false beliefs, just not
false propositions. A bigger problem with the correspondence theory is that it rejects the
idea that there are moral facts, as they cannot exist in reality (David). For example, the
statement There is a God cannot be a fact as there is no way to verify it by physical
acquaintance. Therefore, the proposition or belief There is a God is not true, because
there is no corresponding fact. Russells theory on truth does not allow for the existence
of religious or moral truths, as all facts must be tangible in reality.
Pragmatism emerged in the United States in the early 20th century as another
way to answer the question What is truth? William James (1842-1910) was one of the
foremost philosophers developing this theory. His 1907 book Pragmatism detailed this
new theory and how to apply it to learn the meaning of truth (Goodman). Pragmatism
deals with the difference between empirical knowledge and a priori knowledge
(Hookway). Empirical knowledge is gained through observation and experimentation,
while a priori knowledge is reasoned through theoretical deduction. It can be seen as
the difference between science and religion. Pragmatism seeks to take these two subjects
out of competition by examining the practical meaning of a proposition (Goodman).
In this system, knowledge is based on the effects an object has, rather than just the
object itself. Concepts and consequences must be considered. A scientific empiricist will
deal solely with fact, while pragmatists also place value on how the facts can be applied.
Pragmatism allows for the explanation of some metaphysical concepts that cannot be
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described in empirical terms. Through this, science and religion are no longer in conflict
as both have practical value (Hookway).
James describes truth as something that is good, helpful, and useful in belief
and experience (Hookway). In this setting, the statement There is a God is true if the
person holding this belief finds value in it. In opposition to Russell and the
correspondence theory, pragmatism definitely allows for religious truth. However,
James and other pragmatists do not work from a Christian perspective, as according to
their definition of truth, truth can be found in all religions. Whether a person believes in
God or Allah, it is true for them as they receive positive effects from it. In the pragmatist
system, truths are made rather than just existing (Goodman).
Further afield from these philosophies of truth is a highly technical work by the
Polish mathematician and philosopher Alfred Tarski. Living between 1901 and 1983, he
is known for his work in logic. His influential book The Concept of Truth in Formalized
Languages, published in Polish in 1935, logically defined truth and truth-bearers with
regards to semantics (Gomez-Torrente). His work is often known as the semantic
conception of truth (Glanzberg). It is difficult to explain in simple terms, as Tarski uses
many symbols and complicated reasoning. In short, sentences are the primary truthbearers and something is true if it is formally correct (Hodges). A formal language is
one where all sentences have an interpreted meaning. To discuss this language, a
metalanguage must be used, which includes the entire language plus syntax and
mathematical proofs (Gomez-Torrente). Through this metalanguage, one can create a
truth predicate in a sentence. Every truth predicate follows Tarskis convention T that
makes it formally correct, which explains why a sentence is true (Gomez-Torrente). In a
simple example, snow is white (language) if and only if snow is white (metalanguage),
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using the convention T. Tarskis theory can also be used with much more complex
situations.
Although Tarskis work is highly technical and difficult for the average person to
understand, several applications can be drawn from it. It is not necessary to entirely
comprehend Tarskis notation and convention T because Tarskis theory is less of a
philosophy of truth than a logical way to define whether something is true. Tarski does
not explain the why as much as he explains the how. Thus, his work is very useful in
the fields of logic, mathematics, and semantics, but it does not give a person reasons
why what he or she believes is true. In addition, Tarski explains in his theorem of the
indefinability of truth that because the definition of truth can only be found using the
process of defining statements as true, truth itself can never be defined (GomezTorrente). Tarski is interesting and important because he gives a logical background
that is used by philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians.
Truth is a large and wide subject of philosophy. These three philosophers present
only a few of the many diverse theories on truth. Russells correspondence theory
concentrates truth in reality, while James pragmatism values truth in its usefulness.
Tarski takes a different direction to show how truth is expressed. None of these theories,
however, explain that God and everything that comes from God is absolute truth. The
early 20th century was a time of great development for the philosophy of truth, but it
came from a secular rather than a Christian viewpoint.

Works Cited
David, Marian. "The Correspondence Theory of Truth." Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy. Ed. Edward N. Zalta. Stanford University, 2 July 2009. Web. 26 Mar.
2015.
Glanzberg, Michael. "Truth." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed. Edward N.
Zalta. Stanford University, 22 Jan. 2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.
Gomez-Torrente, Mario. "Alfred Tarski." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed.
Edward N. Zalta. Stanford University, 27 Jan. 2015. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.
Goodman, Russell. "William James." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed. Edward
N. Zalta. Stanford University, 29 Oct. 2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.
Hodges, Wilfrid. "Tarskis Truth Definitions." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed.
Edward N. Zalta. Stanford University, 15 Aug. 2014. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.
Hookway, Christopher. "Pragmatism." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed.
Edward N. Zalta. Stanford University, 7 Oct. 2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.
Irvine, Andrew David. "Bertrand Russell." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed.
Edward N. Zalta. Stanford University, 10 Mar. 2015. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.