2.2: Truth
- Page ID
- 306925
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)We just claimed that for your belief to be true is for it to represent things as they are. The basic idea here is that beliefs and claims are true when they correspond to how things are. Ordinary declarative sentences say something about how things are. What a declarative sentence says represents some aspect of reality. So, take a few everyday examples:
- There is a spruce tree in Stuart’s front yard.
- Lake Washington is east of downtown Seattle
- Your keys are on the kitchen counter.
Each of these sentences represents some aspect of reality as being a certain way. The sentence is true if that part of the world is the way the sentence says it is. Since truth is about correspondence with our shared reality, it concerns the objective realm. Truth is objective.
Our society is currently riddled with some confusing ways of talking about truth. We have become accustomed to talking about “my truth” or “your truth.” But if we stay focused on our ordinary understanding of truth as correspondence to reality, we can avoid confusions about truth being subjective or relative. Corresponding to our shared reality is obviously what we mean when we count the belief that Lake Washington is east of Seattle as true. For my belief or claim to be true is just for it to represent some aspect of reality as it is. What is true depends only on how things are objectively in our shared reality. Beyond shaping what is true about my own mind, I can’t make things true merely by willing, wishing or believing them.
Given this ordinary everyday understanding of truth, it should be clear that truth doesn’t belong to anyone. Nobody gets to dictate, define or decide what is the case, except in the very limited respect where a person decides what to do, how to think, or who to be. As a subject, I have this much power to shape our shared reality and no more. There is no “my truth” or “your truth.” The only way to make sense out of truth being subjective or relative to people would be to deny the existence of a shared reality. Truth could be subjective only if I live in my own little world and you live in your own separate reality. This would be to reject the very modest metaphysical assumptions we started this chapter with. Maybe we don’t all live on planet Earth. I can’t prove that we have a shared reality, but not having one sure sounds lonely
When I believe something, I take it to be true. I suspect this is all most talk of “my truth” or “your truth” amounts to, a confusing way of talking about what we believe. But this kind of talk involves a rhetorical cheat in suggesting that my belief, which could well be just plain false, is still somehow to be associated with what is true. Talk of “my truth” and “your truth” blurs the difference between appearance and reality, the subjective and the objective.
Finally, before we leave the topic of truth, let’s consider the difference between these two questions:
- What is it for a claim to be true?
- How do we determine that a claim is true?
It’s important to keep these two questions separate. Questions about how we know whether something is true are epistemic questions. These questions are concerned with how our minds relate to the world. But the question of what it is for something to be true is not an epistemic issue. The truth of a claim is quite independent of how or whether we know it to be true. There are many truths we don’t know and some of the things we think we know just aren’t true. If you are not sure about this, consider these two claims:
- There is intelligent life on other planets.
- There is no intelligent life on other planets.
One of these claims is true. We can be sure of this on the basis of logic alone. Either claim being false would make the other true. We don’t know which of these two claims is true and yet one of them is true. Whichever of these claims is true, its being true doesn’t depend on whether we know it to be true. There are many truths that will never be known or believed by anyone, and appreciating this is enough to see that the truth of a claim is not relative to belief, knowledge, proof, or any other epistemic notion (any concept concerning how minds relate to the world).
So, what it takes for a claim to be true doesn’t depend on what we believe, or what we think we know, (except in the special case of claims about what we believe). What it takes for a claim to be true only depends on what on how things are in reality, in the objective world. Once we get clear on subjects, objects and truth, the answer to our first question above is pretty clear. All it is for a claim to be true is for what it says to fit with how things are.
But naturally, most of us are more concerned with how we can determine when the claims people make, and the things we believe, are true. This question is more challenging. It’s also what critical thinking is about. We will begin to address this issue when we turn to the basic methods for evaluating reasons and evidence.