A REALIST

CONCEPTION
OF TRUTH
ALSO BY WILLIAM P. ALSTON

Divine Nature and Human Language: Essays in Philosophical Theology

Epistemic Justification: Essays in the Theury of Knowledge
Perceiving God: The Epistemology of Religious Experience
The Reliability of Sense Perception
A REALIST
CONCEPTION
OF TRUTH

William P. .Alston

Cornell University Press

ITHA~CA AND LONDON
Copyright© 1996 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review,

this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any
form without permission in writing from the publisher. For
information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House,
512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 1996 by Cornell University Press

First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 1996.
Printed in the United States of America.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Alston, William P.
A realist conception of truth I William P. Alston.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN o-8014-3187-5 (cloth: alk. paper).
ISBN o-8o14-841o-3 (paper: alk paper).
1. Truth. 2. Realism. 3· Kitowledge, Theory of. I. Title.
BD171.A42 1995
121-dC20 96-31251

@ The paper in this book meets the minimum requirements

of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39·48-1984.
For Hugh Fleetwood,
true .friend