Saving Truth
Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2015 5:07 pm
So, what is true?...The second indefensible notion is that there is something called ‘The Truth’, understood either as a kind a substance in which all true assertions participate or a point at which all truths converge, summate or merge...
...The final aspect of truth is pragmatic: that which is true is that which ‘works’ for us, in the broadest possible sense of the word. In the case of certain beliefs which are not accessible to empirical testing – for example, religious beliefs or secular ideologies – ‘truth’ is almost entirely assimilated to what the William James called pragmatic ‘cash value’, and which evolutionary theorists would call ‘survival value’. We cannot, however, reduce the difference between all truths and all falsehoods simply to the difference between what works and what doesn’t. If we did, we would still have to explain why some things do and some things don’t work. While beliefs may feel true because they ‘work’, ultimately, most of our beliefs that work do so because they are true. And ultimately that means corresponding to a state of affairs, or a range or pattern of states of affairs.
© Prof. Raymond Tallis 2008
Raymond Tallis is a physician, philosopher, poet and novelist. His new book is called The Kingdom of Infinite Space: A Fantastical Journey Round Your Head
It depends on what we think is true, based on current information, and keeps us feeling comfortable with our own perception of reality?