That is why it is very important for society and a person to find common solutions and the same attitudes to the things that are around. The truth is something that has to be approved by society on the one hand and by an individual on the other hand. It means that truth can be based on human experience and satisfaction with the actions chosen. It is necessary to consider human opinions to understand if a belief is true or false. The pragmatists touch upon the psychological aspect of the concept. In other words, if the “correspondence” depends on a number of external factors, the “pragmatic” truth deals with personal beliefs only. It is characterized by the outcomes people can observe. If the correspondence theory is based on the fact that beliefs and reality should be compared, the pragmatic theory states that truth is something that can lead to harmony, progress, and personal satisfaction. James’ main idea is that truth can be defined by the quality of practical difference it can make. Pragmatists want to provide people with enough powers and abilities so that they can “define truth only in relation to consequences” (Velasquez 414). It is more important to pay attention to the level of its worth and usefulness. That is why truth cannot correspond with reality. Events have a tendency to be changed from time to time in regards to people’s needs, interests, and expectations. Pragmatists try to underline that there is no absolute truth. The essence of this theory lies in the fact that a belief can be defined as true only “if it works and is useful” to people (Velasquez 413). 2 nd SideĪ pragmatic theory of truth is another point of view that has been developed by such philosopher as William James in the middle of the 19 th century. In brief, this theory focuses on the possibility of correspondence between reality and a belief that can be proved by means of observations and physical determination. What he added was the necessity to identify English as the main language in which the meaning of truth can be accepted. His ideas can be similar to those, offered by Aristotle many years ago. It means that “true is when things are as it says things are (Velasquez 408). He introduced truth as a property of sentences. They are the two parts of one whole.Īlfred Tarski was another philosopher and thinker, who made considerable contributions to the development of the correspondent theory. That is why the concepts of truth and false cannot go apart. In case a belief faces some misunderstandings or contradictions with reality, it is wrong to believe in the truthfulness of such belief. That is why truth should be regarded as “a relationship between a belief and things in the world outside the belief” (Velasquez 404). It is more important to consider some other outside factors that can influence the chosen belief. Besides, he mentioned that the truth of a particular belief could be defined by the nature of this belief. In other words, the representatives of the correspondence theory explain truth as “an agreement or correspondence between a proposition and some fact in the real world” (Velasquez 403).īertrand Russell was a prominent philosopher of the 20 th century, who believed that there were a number of facts that could not depend on people. All these philosophers believed that it is necessary to accept a belief as a true in case it corresponds to the real world. Other supporters of this theory were Descartes and Spinoza, Lock and Kant. The correspondence theory of truth is rooted in the ideas offered by Aristotle and then developed by Aquinas. This paper aims at discussing three main theories about truth and identifying their strongest and weakest aspects: pragmatists, coherentism representatives, and the supporters of the correspondence theory offered their powerful ideas to explain the meaning of truth however, they could not even guess that modern people are ready to combine their thoughts and introduce their individual definitions. For a long period, the task has been to comprehend the essence of truth and its importance for people.Ĭan it happen that truth is a kind of agreement between a belief and a real life fact, or is it possible that a true belief should cohere with other true beliefs, or is it correct to think that truth has to work, be useful to people, and help to achieve the results that make people happy? People are free to choose religion, traditions, and culture and develop truths that meet their preferences. Nowadays, it is possible to hear that everyone has his/her own truth.
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