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Chapter 2: Knowing The Truth

This document discusses the nature of truth and different kinds of truth. It examines what can properly be considered bearers of truth, including beliefs and statements. It explores questions that give rise to different kinds of truths, such as whether truth is determined by experience or reason (empirical vs rational), whether it increases knowledge (synthetic vs analytic), whether it is universally true (necessary vs contingent), whether it is publicly or privately known, and whether it is objective or subjective. The document provides examples and definitions for each kind of truth. The overall purpose is to clarify the concept of truth and analyze the various categories and aspects of truth.

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Andrea Ruiz
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324 views

Chapter 2: Knowing The Truth

This document discusses the nature of truth and different kinds of truth. It examines what can properly be considered bearers of truth, including beliefs and statements. It explores questions that give rise to different kinds of truths, such as whether truth is determined by experience or reason (empirical vs rational), whether it increases knowledge (synthetic vs analytic), whether it is universally true (necessary vs contingent), whether it is publicly or privately known, and whether it is objective or subjective. The document provides examples and definitions for each kind of truth. The overall purpose is to clarify the concept of truth and analyze the various categories and aspects of truth.

Uploaded by

Andrea Ruiz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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CHAPTER 2 : KNOWING THE TRUTH

What is truth and how is it known?


- In this chapter, we shall examine the nature of truth and the different ways of knowing it.
- We shall first clarify what truth is by examining the knids of things that can be said to be true
and how the different kinds of truth come about.
- We shall examine how truth is related to knowledge and reasoning.

LESSON 4 : THE NATURE OF TRUTH


THE BEARERS OF TRUTH
Guide Question:
- What are the things that can properly be said to be true?
- Being wise is therefore knowing when we know the truth and when we do not know it.
- Philosophy being the love of wisdom is also sometimes described as the search for the truth.
But,
- What is the truth?
- How do we know it?
- When can we say that we know is the truth?
- What are the ways by which we can know the truth?
- What are the kinds of things that can we properly say to be true?

- First thing that we need to understand about the truth is that it is a kind of property whose
opposite is falsity.
- The things that can be properly said to be true, or which we can properly attribute the property
of truth, are reffered to by the philosophers as the "bearers of truth".
- There usually are three candidates for the bearers of truth namely; belief, statement and
sentences and thus we say for instance, that the sentence is true, the statement is true, or the
belief is true.
- for our purposes, however, we shall only consider beliefs and statements as the bearers of
truth. The reason is that not all sentences can be either true or false.
- When we say that the sentences can be true, what we have in mind are the declarative
sentences only.We do not say a question, an exclamation, or an imperative that is either true or
false.
- But the declarative sentences can also be used outside of their ordinary use, which is to
describe facts or events in the world.
Discussion Question:
What makes knowing the truth so important in life?
What are the different kinds of truth, and how do they come about?
THE BEARERS OF TRUTH
- Statement and beliefs are either true or false; there are however certain questions or
considerations about certain aspects of the truth or falsity of statements and beliefs, which have
given rise of different kinds of truth.
- Not arranged in any particular order, let us examine some of these questions in different kinds
of truth.

1. The question of whether the truth of a belief or statement is established or arrived at by


means of sense experience (experience through the five organs of sense) or reason (through
inference or analysis of concepts).
- This question gives arise to the difference between empirical truth and rational truth.
Empirical truth - is established by means of sense experience,
Rational truth- established by means of reason
Empirical truth is technically described a posteriori, which means that it can only be known
after some relevant experience.
Rational truth is technically described as priori, which means that it can only be known before
some relevant experience.

2. The question of whether or not knowing the truth of a statement or belief extends our
knowledge or adds to what we already know.
- the question is technically expressed by some philosophers in terms of whether the predicate
of a true belief or statement is already contained in the information provided by its subject.
- this question gives arise to the difference between synthetic truth and analytic truth.

Synthetic Truth - extends our knowledge (the information provided by the predicate is not
contained in the information provided by its subject).
Analytic Truth - it does not (the information provide provided by the predicate is contained in
the information provided by the subject).

All empirical truths are synthetic truth, on the other hand, definitions and identity statements are
good example of analytic truths.

3. The question of whether or not a statement or belief is true in all possible situations.
- This gives rise to the difference between contingent truth and necessary truth.
Contingent truth - is not true in all possible situations, whereas Necessary truth is.
Empirical truths are contingent truths; whereas rational truths are necessary truths.
- In simplier terms, a contingent truth is not always true while necessary truth is always true.

4. The questions of whether the truth ir belief or statement can only be known by the
person who has belief or makes the statement.
- This gives rise to the difference between private truth and public truth.
Private truth can only be known the by person who has the belief or makes the statement
considered to be true.
Public truth can, in principle be known by everyone (by "in principle" we mean that occurence
or presence of the necessary conditions like the knowing person is normal adult.

5. The queastion of whether or not the truth of a belief or statement is dependent on the
attitudes, preferences, or interest of a person or a group of person.
- this gives rise to the differences between subjective truth and objective truth.
Subjective truth - is dependent on the attitude, preferences or interest of a person or a group of
persons
Objective truth - is not

6. Is the question of whether a belief or statement is aknowledge to be true by everyone or


only by some people.
- This gives rise to the difference between universal truth and relative truth.
- Something is a universally true if its truth is aknowledged by everyone, while something is
relatively true if its truth is aknowledged only by some people.
- Objective truths are usually universal truth as well; while subjective truths are usually relative
truth as well.

7. Is the question of whether the truth of a belief is arrived at through the process of
deductive reasoning or inductive reasoning.
- This gives rise to the differenc between certain truth and probable truth.
Deductive truth - the truth of the statement arrived at through the process of deductive
reasoning, is certain.
Inductive truth - the truth arrived at through the process of inductive reasoning, is ,merely
probable.

- Deductive or certain truths are also necessary truths and inductive or probable truth are also
contingent truths.
- Objective truths are usually universal truths as well; and subjctive truths are usually relative
truths as well.

8. The question of under what area of study does the topic or content of a belief or
statement that is held to be true falls.
- This rise the to a number of kinds of truths, as many as there are different areas of study.
- We may call this truths disciplinal kinds of truth.
- Regarding truths in the various areas of learning, such as religious, scientific, and
psychological truths, they can consist of other kinds of truths as well as such contingent,
necessary, objective and subjective truths.

ACTIVITY
Research on Plato's "Allegory of the Cave". Analyze and reflect on what Plato is saying about
truth in the allegory.

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