Getting at what we MEAN by “truth”

Yeah, truth. In an age when fishwraps claim to be telling us “The Truth” even while books are written about post-truth (Oxford’s Word of the Year 2016), a look at the different things people can mean does not come amiss.

J. R. Miller offers some guidance: “It seem like a simple questions, but when you start talking to people you realize we don’t all share the same answer:

“In fact, much of the conflict we find on social media is because not everyone defines “truth” in the same way. Let me share with you three competing views of truth:

The Epistemic theory of truth holds that truth is a relationship between a proposition and the criteria of the person’s mind. E.g. “What’s true for you may not be true for me.” The Pragmatic theory of truth holds that truth is only that which is useful. E.g. “As long as it works for you…” The Correspondence theory of truth holds that truth is a proposition which corresponds to reality. In this case (unlike the epistemic and pragmatic theories), truth is independent of human knowledge. (E.g. The statement, “The sky is blue” is true even for someone who is blind.)] J. R. Miller, “What do you accept as “truth”?” at More Than Cake “

See also: J. R. Miller on the social justice warriors

and

J. R. Miller on Darwinism, racism, and human zoos

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