The basic properties of truth in philosophy

This problem occupies a central place in the system of philosophical knowledge. Hundreds of scientists worked to identify the basic properties of truth. The characters of philosophical theories are different: some of them have roots in earlier teachings, others fundamentally contradict each other.

The classical definition of the truth of knowledge

The concept of truth in everyday life can have a different meaning, but in science it means, first of all, the correspondence of the judgment of objective reality. Speaking about certain properties of objects and phenomena of reality, then it is necessary to point to them, to associate statements with the objects of the material world.

This view of truth goes back to the teachings of Aristotle. But how can the character of the objects of the material world, which exist in time and space, be correlated with the ideal nature of logical reasoning? Because of this contradiction, new views on the concept of truth have appeared in philosophy.

Alternative views on the properties of truth

One such approach is the following: it is methodologically correct to justify a statement with the help of another utterance. In philosophy there is a so-called coherent conception, according to which, only the conformity of statements within a proposition can serve as a criterion of truth . However, such an approach does not return the philosopher back to the material world.

Immanuel Kant believed that the main properties of truth are the universality and necessity, the coherence of thinking with oneself. The source of knowledge in the philosopher is not objective reality, but a priori knowledge available to man.

French scientist Rene Descartes proposed his evidence as a criterion for the truth of knowledge. Other scientists, such as Mach and Averanius, adhered to the principle of Occam's razor and offered the economy of thinking as the main characteristic of truth.

According to the doctrine of pragmatism, which opposes itself to a coherent theory, a statement can be considered true if it brings practical benefit. Its representatives are American philosophers Charles Pierce and William James. A vivid example of this view of the nature of truth are the views of the ancient Greek scholar Ptolemy. They present a model of the world, corresponding to what it seems, and not what it really is. But despite this, it has brought a lot of practical benefit. With the help of Ptolemy's maps, various astronomical events were correctly predicted.

Were the views of an ancient scholar then true? The answer to this question is given by a theory called relativism. Independent and contradictory judgments can be true - this is the meaning of this concept.

Another teaching - materialism - treats objective reality as existing independently of man, and therefore, within its concepts, the main properties of truth are the adequacy and correspondence of the reflection of objects and phenomena of the real world.

And how are these issues being considered now? What are the properties of objective truth at the present time?

Logical consistency

This criterion of truth has its origins in the coherent concept. This condition is necessary, but to recognize the theory is correct, it must include other properties of truth. Knowledge can be consistent within, but this does not guarantee that it is not false.

Pragmatism, or practice

Dialectical materialism puts forward the following criterion of the truth of knowledge: its applicability in practice. Theories do not carry self-worth, they are not developed by man in order to fill libraries. Knowledge is necessary so that they can be applied in reality. In practice, the idea of an object and action is unified.

Concreteness

The next property of truth. It means that a particular judgment is true within a certain context, given certain conditions. Any object of the material world has a certain number of specific properties and is included in the system of other objects. Therefore, one can not formulate a correct judgment without taking these conditions into account.

Verifiability

Another criterion of truth is the possibility of testing it empirically. In science there are concepts of verification and falsification. The first is the process by which the truth of knowledge is established by experience, that is, by empirical verification. Falsification is a process of logical thinking, by means of which it is possible to determine the falsity of the thesis or theory.

Absoluteness and Relativity

Philosophy distinguishes two types of truth: absolute and relative. The first is a complete knowledge of the subject, which can not be refuted in the course of further research. The usual examples of absolute truth are physical constants, historical dates. However, this type is not the goal of knowledge.

The second kind - relative truth - can contain absolute components, but it must be refined. For example, this type refers to a set of human knowledge about the nature of matter.

It should be noted that knowledge can also be false. However, it is necessary to distinguish lies from errors or inadvertent erroneous judgments. Relative truth can contain this type of distortion. The properties and criteria of truth make it possible to avoid such mistakes: for this it is necessary to correlate the received knowledge with them.

Scientific knowledge, in fact, is a movement toward absolute truths from the relative, and this process can never be completed to the end.

Objectivity

Finally, another of the most important properties of truth is its objectivity, or the independence of content from the knowing subject. However, truth includes both objective and subjective, since it does not exist in isolation from human consciousness. It has a subjective form, but its content is objective. An example illustrating the criterion of objective truth is the statement "The Earth is Round". This knowledge is given by the object itself and is a direct reflection of its properties.

So, completely different criteria represent the basic properties of truth. Social science, philosophy, methodology of science are those spheres where this area of epistemology finds application.