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The about which the majority of professional philosophers and scholars agree. Various Theories of truth, usually involving different definitions, continue to be debated. There are differing claims on such questions as what constitutes truth; how to define and identify truth; what roles do revealed and acquired knowledge play; and whether truth is subjective, relative, objective, or absolute. This article introduces the various perspectives and claims, both today and throughout history. ETYMOLOGY English '''' nominalisation of the adjective ''true'' (Old English ''tréowe'').
Old Norse ', means "faith, word of honour; religious faith, belief"Zoega (1910) {Link without Title} (archaic English ' "loyalty, honesty, good faith", compare ''''). Thus, ''truth'' in its original sense is the quality of "faithfulness, fidelity, loyalty, sincerity, veracity",'', is a secondary development coupled to the process of " Enlightenment " in 17th Century Philosophy .Attested since the early 17th century. E.g., Shakespeare in '' As You Like It '' (5.4) has "If there be truth in sight, you are my daughter."; William Prynne in his ''A briefe survay and censure of Mr Cozens his couzening devotions '' (1628) has "I haue here sufficiently euidenced the trueth of this Assertion." All Germanic languages besides English have introduced a terminological distinction between truth "fidelity" and truth "factuality". To express "factuality", '' have unrelated terms. THE MAJOR THEORIES OF TRUTH Questions about what is a proper basis on which to decide how words, symbols, ideas and beliefs may properly be said to constitute truth, whether for a single person or an entire community or society, are among the many questions addressed by the theories introduced below. Each of the five substantive theories below deal with truth as something with a nature, a phenomenon, or thing, or type of human experience about which significant things can be said. These theories each present perspectives that are widely agreed by published scholars to apply in some way to a broad set of occurrences that can be observed in human interaction, or which offer significant, stable explanations for issues related to the idea of truth in human experience.Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Supp., "Truth", auth: Michael Williams, p572-573 (Macmillan, 1996)Blackburn, Simon, and Simmons, Keith (eds., 1999),''Truth'', Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. Includes papers by James, Ramsey, Russell, Tarski, and more recent work. There also have more recently arisen " Deflationary " or "minimalist" theories of truth based on the idea that the application of a term like ''true'' to a statement does not assert anything significant about it, for instance, anything about its ''nature'', but that the label ''truth'' is a tool of discourse used to express agreement, to emphasize claims, or to form certain types of generalizations.Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Supp., "Truth", auth: Michael Williams, p572-573 (Macmillan, 1996)Horwich, Paul, ''Truth'', (2nd edition, 1988),Field, Hartry, ''Truth and the Absence of Fact'' (2001). Substantive theories Correspondence theory See Also: Correspondence theory of truth Correspondence theories claim that true beliefs and true statements correspond to the actual state of affairs.Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Vol.2, "Correspondence Theory of Truth", auth: Arthur N. Prior, p223 Macmillan, 1969) Prior uses , by whether it accurately describes that reality. For example, there is a True distance to the moon when we humans attempt to go there, and this true distance is necessary to Know so that the journey can be successfully made. Correspondence theory traditionally operates on the assumption that truth is a matter of accurately copying "objective reality" and then representing it in thoughts, words and other symbols.''See, e.g.,'' Bradley, F.H., "On Truth and Copying", in Blackburn, ''et al'' (eds., 1999),''Truth'', 31-45. More modern theorists have stated that this ideal cannot be achieved independently of some analysis of additional factors. For example, language plays a role in that all languages have words that are not easily translatable into another. The ). Thus, the language itself adds an additional parameter to the construction of an accurate Truth Predicate . Among the philosophers who grappled with this problem is Alfred Tarski , whose Semantic Theory is summarized further below in this article. Proponents of several of the theories below have gone farther to assert that there are yet other issues necessary to the analysis, such as interpersonal power struggles, community interactions, personal biases and other factors involved in deciding what is seen as truth. Coherence theory See Also: Coherence theory of truth For coherence theories in general, truth requires a proper fit of elements within a whole system. Very often, though, coherence is taken to imply something more than simple logical consistency. For example, the completeness and comprehensiveness of the underlying set of concepts is a critical factor in judging the validity and usefulness of a coherent system. Immanuel Kant , for instance, assembled a controversial but quite coherent system in the early 19th century, whose validity and usefulness continues to be debated even today. Similarly, the systems of Leibniz and Spinoza are characteristic systems that are internally coherent but controversial in terms of their utility and validity. A pervasive tenet of coherence theories is the idea that truth is primarily a property of whole systems of propositions, and can be ascribed to individual propositions only according to their coherence with the whole. Among the assortment of perspectives commonly regarded as coherence theory, theorists differ on the question of whether coherence entails many possible true systems of thought or only a single absolute system. Some variants of coherence theory are claimed to characterize the essential and intrinsic properties of formal systems in logic and mathematics.Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Vol.2, "Coherence Theory of Truth", auth: Alan R. White, p130-131 (Macmillan, 1969) However, formal reasoners are content to contemplate Axiomatically Independent and sometimes mutually contradictory systems side by side, for example, the various Alternative Geometries . On the whole, coherence theories have been criticized as lacking justification in their application to other areas of truth, especially with respect to assertions about the Natural World , Empirical data in general, assertions about practical matters of psychology and society, especially when used without support from the other major theories of truth.Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Vol.2, "Coherence Theory of Truth", auth: Alan R. White, p131-133, ''see'' esp., section on "Epistemological assumptions" (Macmillan, 1969) Coherence theories distinguish the thought of , notably Otto Neurath and Carl Hempel . Constructivist theory See Also: Constructivist epistemology Social Constructivism holds that truth is constructed by social processes, is historically and culturally specific, and that it is in part shaped through the power struggles within a community. Constructivism views all of our knowledge as "constructed," because it does not reflect any external "transcendent" realities (as a pure correspondence theory might hold). Rather, perceptions of truth are viewed as contingent on convention, human perception, and social experience. It is believed by constructivists that representations of physical and biological reality, including Race , Sexuality , and Gender are socially constructed. Giambattista Vico was among the first to claim that history and culture were man-made. Vico's epistemological orientation gathers the most diverse rays and unfolds in one axiom--''verum ipsum factum''--"truth itself is constructed." Hegel , Garns, and Marx were among the other early proponents of the premise that truth is socially constructed. Consensus theory See Also: Consensus theory of truth Consensus Theory holds that truth is whatever is agreed upon, or in some versions, might come to be agreed upon, by some specified group. Such a group might include all human beings, or a Subset thereof consisting of more than one person. Among the current advocates of consensus theory as a useful accounting of the concept of "truth" is the philosopher Jürgen Habermas .''See, e.g.'', Habermas, Jürgen, ''Knowledge and Human Interests'' (English translation, 1972). Habermas maintains that truth is what would be agreed upon in an ideal speech situation.''See, e.g.'', Habermas, Jürgen, ''Knowledge and Human Interests'' (English translation, 1972), esp. PART III, pp 187 ''ff''. Among the current strong critics of consensus theory is the philosopher Nicholas Rescher .Rescher, Nicholas, ''Pluralism: Against the Demand for Consensus'' (1995). Pragmatic theory See Also: Pragmatic theory of truth The three most influential forms of the ''pragmatic theory of truth'' were introduced around the turn of the 20th century by Charles S. Peirce , William James , and John Dewey . Although there are wide differences in viewpoint among these and other proponents of pragmatic theory, they hold in common that truth is verified and confirmed by the results of putting one's concepts into practice.Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Vol.5, "Pragmatic Theory of Truth", 427 (Macmillan, 1969). '' and "reference to the future", are essential to a proper conception of truth. Although Peirce uses words like ''concordance'' and ''correspondence'' to describe one aspect of the pragmatic Sign Relation , he is also quite explicit in saying that definitions of truth based on mere correspondence are no more than ''nominal'' definitions, which he accords a lower status than ''real'' definitions. William James 's version of pragmatic theory, while complex, is often summarized by his statement that "the 'true' is only the expedient in our way of thinking, just as the 'right' is only the expedient in our way of behaving."James, William, ''The Meaning of Truth, A Sequel to 'Pragmatism','' (1909). By this, James meant that truth is a quality the value of which is confirmed by its effectiveness when applying concepts to actual practice (thus, "pragmatic"). John Dewey , less broadly than James but more broadly than Peirce, held that inquiry, whether scientific, technical, sociological, philosophical or cultural, is self-corrective over time ''if'' openly submitted for testing by a community of inquirers in order to clarify, justify, refine and/or refute proposed truths. Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Vol.2, "Dewey, John", auth Richard J. Bernstein, p383 (Macmillan, 1969) Minimalist (deflationary) theories See Also: Deflationary theory of truth A number of philosophers reject the thesis that the concept or term ''truth'' refers to a real property of sentences or propositions. These philosophers are responding, in part, to the common use of ''truth predicates'' (e.g., that some particular thing "...is true") which was particularly prevalent in philosophical discourse on truth in the first half of the 20th century. From this point of view, to assert the proposition “'2 + 2 = 4' is true” is logically equivalent to asserting the proposition “2 + 2 = 4”, and the phrase “is true” is completely dispensable in this and every other context. These positions are broadly described
Whichever term is used, deflationary theories can be said to hold in common that " {Link without Title} he predicate 'true' is an expressive convenience, not the name of a property requiring deep analysis." Once we have identified the truth predicate's formal features and utility, deflationists argue, we have said all there is to be said about truth. Among the theoretical concerns of these views is to explain away those special cases where it ''does'' appear that the concept of truth has peculiar and interesting properties. (See, e.g., Semantic Paradox es, and below.) In addition to highlighting such formal aspects of the predicate "is true", some deflationists point out that the concept enables us to express things that might otherwise require infinitely long sentences. For example, one cannot express confidence in Michael's accuracy by asserting the endless sentence: Michael says, 'snow is white' and snow is white, or he says 'roses are red' and roses are red or he says ... etc. But it can be expressed succinctly by saying: ''Whatever Michael says is true''.Kirkham, Theories of Truth, MIT Press, 1992. Performative theory of truth Attributed to P. F. Strawson is the performative theory of truth which holds that to say "'Snow is white' is true" is to perform the Speech Act of signaling one's agreement with the claim that snow is white (much like nodding one's head in agreement). The idea that some statements are more actions than communicative statements is not as odd as it may seem. Consider, for example, that when the bride says "I do" at the appropriate time in a wedding, she is performing the act of taking this man to be her lawful wedded husband. She is not ''describing'' herself as taking this man. In a similar way, Strawson holds: "To say a statement is true is not to make a statement about a statement, but rather to perform the act of agreeing with, accepting, or endorsing a statement. When one says 'It's true that it's raining,' one asserts no more than 'It's raining.' The function of statement 'It's true that...' is to agree with, accept, or endorse the statement that 'it's raining.'" Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Vol.6: ''Performative Theory of Truth'', auth: Gertrude Ezorsky, p88 (Macmillan, 1969) Redundancy and related theories See Also: Redundancy theory of truth According to the Redundancy Theory Of Truth , asserting that a statement is true is completely equivalent to asserting the statement itself. For example, making the assertion that " 'Snow is white' is true" is equivalent to asserting "Snow is white". Redundancy theorists infer from this premise that truth is a redundant concept; that is, it is merely a word that is traditionally used in conversation or writing, generally for emphasis, but not a word that actually equates to anything in reality. This theory is commonly attributed to Frank P. Ramsey , who held that the use of words like ''fact'' and ''truth'' was nothing but a Roundabout way of asserting a proposition, and that treating these words as separate problems in isolation from judgment was merely a "linguistic muddle".Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Supp., "Truth", auth: Michael Williams, p572-573 (Macmillan, 1996)Ramsey, F.P. (1927), "Facts and Propositions", Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 7, 153–170. Reprinted, pp. 34–51 in F.P. Ramsey, Philosophical Papers, David Hugh Mellor (ed.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1990 A variant of redundancy theory is the disquotational theory which uses a modified form of , first developed by Dorothy Grover, Joseph Camp, and Nuel Belnap as an elaboration of Ramsey's claims. They argue that sentences like "That's true", when said in response to "It's raining", are Prosentence s, expressions that merely repeat the content of other expressions. In the same way that ''it'' means the same as ''my dog'' in the sentence ''My dog was hungry, so I fed it'', ''That's true'' is supposed to mean the same as ''It's raining'' — if you say the latter and I then say the former. These variations do not necessarily follow Ramsey in asserting that truth is ''not'' a property, but rather can be understood to say that, for instance, the assertion "P" may well involve a substantial truth, and the theorists in this case are minimalizing only the redundancy or prosentence involved in the statement such as "that's true." Deflationary principles do not apply to representations that are not analogous to sentences, and also do not apply to many other things that are commonly judged to be true or otherwise. Consider the analogy between the sentence "Snow is white" and the person Snow White, both of which can be true in a sense. To a minimalist, saying "Snow is white is true" is the same as saying "Snow is white", but to say "Snow White is true" is ''not'' the same as saying "Snow White". FORMAL THEORIES Truth in mathematics See Also: Model theory Proof theory There are two main approaches to truth in mathematics. They are the '' Model Theory Of Truth '' and the '' Proof Theory Of Truth ''. Historically, with the nineteenth century development of Boolean Algebra mathematical models of logic began to treat "truth", also represented as "T" or "1", as an arbitrary constant. "Falsity" is also an arbitrary constant, which can be represented as "F" or "0". In Propositional Logic , these symbols can be manipulated according to a set of Axioms and Rules Of Inference , often given in the form of Truth Table s. In addition, from at least the time of Hilbert's Program at the turn of the twentieth century to the proof of Gödel's Theorem and the development of the Church-Turing Thesis in the early part of that century, true statements in mathematics were generally assumed to be those statements which are provable in a formal axiomatic system. The works of Kurt Gödel , Alan Turing , and others shook this assumption, with the development of statements that are true but cannot be proven within the system.''See, e.g.,'' Chaitin, Gregory L., ''The Limits of Mathematics'' (1997) esp. 89 ''ff''. Two examples of the latter can be found in Hilbert's Problems . Work on Hilbert's 10th Problem led in the late twentieth century to the construction of specific Diophantine Equations for which it is undecidable whether they have a solution,M. Davis. "Hilbert's Tenth Problem is Unsolvable." ''American Mathematical Monthly'' 80, pp. 233-269, 1973 or even if they do, whether they have a finite or infinite number of solutions. More fundamentally, Hilbert's First Problem was on the Continuum Hypothesis .Yandell, Benjamin H.. ''The Honors Class. Hilbert's Problems and Their Solvers'' (2002). Gödel and Paul Cohen showed that this hypothesis cannot be proved or disproved using the standard Axiom s of Set Theory and a finite number of proof steps.Chaitin, Gregory L., ''The Limits of Mathematics'' (1997) 1-28, 89 ''ff''. In the view of some, then, it is equally reasonable to take either the continuum hypothesis or its negation as a new axiom. Semantic theory of truth The Semantic Theory Of Truth has as its general case for a given language: :'P' is true if and only if P where 'P' is a reference to the sentence (the sentence's name), and P is just the sentence itself. Logician and philosopher . As a result Tarski held that the semantic theory could not be applied to any natural language, such as English, because they contain their own truth predicates. Donald Davidson used it as the foundation of his Truth-conditional Semantics and linked it to Radical Interpretation in a form of Coherentism . Bertrand Russell is credited with noticing the existence of such paradoxes even in the best symbolic formalizations of mathematics in his day, in particular the paradox that came to be named after him, Russell's Paradox . Russell and Whitehead attempted to solve these problems in '' Principia Mathematica '' by putting statements into a hierarchy of Types , wherein a statement cannot refer to itself, but only to statements lower in the hierarchy. This in turn led to new orders of difficulty regarding the precise natures of types and the structures of conceptually possible Type System s that have yet to be resolved to this day. Kripke's theory of truth Saul Kripke contends that a natural language can in fact contain its own truth predicate without giving rise to contradiction. He showed how to construct one as follows:
Notice that truth never gets defined for sentences like ''This sentence is false'', since it was not in the original subset and does not predicate truth of any sentence in the original or any subsequent set. In Kripke's terms, these are "ungrounded." Since these sentences are never assigned either truth or falsehood even if the process is carried out infinitely, Kripke's theory implies that some sentences are neither true nor false. This contradicts the Principle Of Bivalence : every sentence must be either true or false. Since this principle is a key premise in deriving the Liar paradox, the paradox is dissolved.Kripke, Saul. "Outline of a Theory of Truth", Journal of Philosophy, 72 (1975), 690-716 NOTABLE PHILOSOPHERS' VIEWS ]] Classical philosophers The ancient Greek origins of the words "true" and "truth" have some consistent definitions throughout great spans of history that were often associated with topics of Logic , Geometry , Math , Deduction , Induction , and Natural Philosophy . Socrates , Plato 's and Aristotle 's ideas about truth are commonly seen as consistent with correspondence theory. In his ''Metaphysics'', Aristotle stated: “To say of what is that it is not, or of what is not that it is, is false, while to say of what is that it is, and of what is not that it is not, is true”.David, Marion (2005) "Correspondence Theory of Truth" in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy at {Link without Title} The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy proceeds to say of Aristotle:
Very similar statements can also be found in Plato (Cratylus 385b2, Sophist 263b). Aquinas Thomas Aquinas said that ''veritas est adæquatio intellectus et rei,'' Summa I.16.1 truth is the conformity of the intellect to the things, an elegant re-statement of Aristotle's view. Kant Immanuel Kant discussed the correspondence theory of truth in the following manner. Kant's criticism of correspondence theory is one of numerous examples of why so many thinkers who examine the question of truth are not satisfied to rest with this first theory that usually comes to mind. Truth is said to consist in the agreement of knowledge with the object. According to this mere verbal definition, then, my knowledge, in order to be true, must agree with the object. Now, I can only compare the object with my knowledge by this means, namely, by taking knowledge of it. My knowledge, then, is to be verified by itself, which is far from being sufficient for truth. For as the object is external to me, and the knowledge is in me, I can only judge whether my knowledge of the object agrees with my knowledge of the object. Such a circle in explanation was called by the ancients Diallelos. And the logicians were accused of this fallacy by the sceptics, who remarked that this account of truth was as if a man before a judicial tribunal should make a statement, and appeal in support of it to a witness whom no one knows, but who defends his own credibility by saying that the man who had called him as a witness is an honourable man.Kant, Immanuel (1800), Introduction to Logic. Reprinted, Thomas Kingsmill Abbott (trans.), Dennis Sweet (intro.) (2005) According to Kant, the definition of truth as correspondence is a "mere verbal definition", here making use of Aristotle's distinction between a nominal definition, a definition in name only, and a real definition, A Definition That Shows The True Cause Or Essence Of The Thing Whose Term Is Being Defined . From Kant's account of the history, the definition of truth as correspondence was already in dispute from classical times, the "skeptics" criticizing the "logicians" for a form of circular reasoning, though the extent to which the "logicians" actually held such a theory is not evaluated.Kant, Immanuel (1800), Introduction to Logic. Reprinted, Thomas Kingsmill Abbott (trans.), Dennis Sweet (intro.) (2005) Kierkegaard When Søren Kierkegaard , as his character ''Johannes Climacus'', wrote that ''"Truth is Subjectivity"'', he does not advocate for Subjectivism in its extreme form (the theory that something is true simply because one believes it to be so), but rather that the objective approach to matters of personal truth cannot shed any light upon that which is most essential to a person's life. Objective truths are concerned with the facts of a person's being, while subjective truths are concerned with a person's way of being. Kierkegaard agrees that objective truths for the study of subjects like math, science, and history are relevant and necessary, but argues that objective truths do not shed any light on a person's inner relationship to existence. At best, these truths can only provide a severely narrowed perspective that has little to do with one's actual experience of life.Kierkegaard, Søren. ''Concluding Unscientific Postscript''. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1992 While objective truths are final and static, subjective truths are continuing and dynamic. The truth of one's existence is a living, inward, and subjective experience that is always in the process of becoming. The values, morals, and spiritual approaches a person adopts, while not denying the existence of objective truths of those beliefs, can only become truly known when they have been inwardly appropriated through subjective experience. Thus, Kierkegaard criticizes all systematic philosophies which attempt to know life or the truth of existence via theories and objective knowledge about reality. As Kierkegaard claims, human truth is something that is continually occurring, and a human being cannot find truth separate from the subjective experience of one's own existing, defined by the values and fundamental essence that consist of one's way of life.Watts, Michael. ''Kierkegaard'', Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2003 Nietzsche Friedrich Nietzsche believed the search for truth or 'the will to truth' was a consequence of the will to power of philosophers. He thought that truth should be used as long as it promoted life and the will to power, and he thought untruth was better than truth if it had this life enhancement as a consequence. As he wrote in ''Beyond Good and Evil'', "''The falseness of a judgment is to us not necessarily an objection to a judgment... The question is to what extent it is life-advancing, life-preserving, species-preserving, perhaps even species-breeding...''" (aphorism 4). He proposed the will to power as a truth only because according to him it was the most life affirming and sincere perspective one could have. Robert Wicks discusses Nietzsche's basic view of truth as follows: Some scholars regard Nietzsche's 1873 unpublished essay, "On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense" ("Über Wahrheit und Lüge im außermoralischen Sinn") as a keystone in his thought. In this essay, Nietzsche rejects the idea of universal constants, and claims that what we call "truth" is only "a mobile army of metaphors, metonyms, and anthropomorphisms." His view at this time is that arbitrariness completely prevails within human experience: concepts originate via the very artistic transference of nerve stimuli into images; "truth" is nothing more than the invention of fixed conventions for merely practical purposes, especially those of repose, security and consistence.http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche/#2 Heidegger See Aletheia . Mahatma Gandhi Gandhi dedicated his life to the wider purpose of discovering truth, or Satya . He tried to achieve this by learning from his own mistakes and conducting experiments on himself. He called his Autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth. Gandhi stated that the most important battle to fight was overcoming his own Demon s, Fear s, and insecurities. Gandhi summarized his beliefs first when he said "God is Truth". He would later change this statement to "Truth is God". Thus, Truth in Gandhi's philosophy is God . Alfred North Whitehead Alfred North Whitehead a British mathematician who became an American philosopher, said: "There are no whole truths; all truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil". The logical progression or connection of this line of thought is to conclude that truth can lie, since Half-truths are deceptive and may lead to a false Conclusion . Nishida According to Kitaro Nishida , " of things in the world begins with the differentiation of unitary consciousness into knower and known and ends with self and things becoming one again. Such unification takes form not only in knowing but in the valuing (of truth) that directs knowing, the willing that directs action, and the feeling or emotive reach that directs sensing."Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: "Nishida Kitaro" at [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nishida-kitaro Fromm Erich Fromm finds that trying to discuss truth as "absolute truth" is sterile and that emphasis ought to be placed on "optimal truth". He considers truth as stemming from the survival imperative of grasping one's environment physically and intellectually, whereby young children instinctively seek truth so as to orient themselves in "a strange and powerful world". The accuracy of their perceived approximation of the truth will therefore have direct consequences on their ability to deal with their environment. Fromm can be understood to define truth as a functional approximation of reality. His vision of optimal truth is described partly in "Man from Himself: An Inquiry into the Psychology of Ethics" (1947), from which excerpts are included below. : the dichotomy between 'absolute = perfect' and 'relative = imperfect' has been superseded in all fields of scientific thought, where "it is generally recognized that there is no absolute truth but nevertheless that there are objectively valid laws and principles". : In that respect, "a scientifically or rationally valid statement means that the power of reason is applied to all the available data of observation without any of them being suppressed or falsified for the sake of a desired result". The history of science is "a history of inadequate and incomplete statements, and every new insight makes possible the recognition of the inadequacies of previous propositions and offers a springboard for creating a more adequate formulation." : As a result "the history of thought is the history of an ever-increasing approximation to the truth. Scientific knowledge is not absolute but optimal; it contains the optimum of truth attainable in a given historical period." Fromm furthermore notes that "different cultures have emphasized various aspects of the truth" and that increasing interaction between cultures allows for these aspects to reconcile and integrate, increasing further the approximation to the truth. Foucault Truth, for Michel Foucault , is problematic when any attempt is made to see truth as an "objective" quality. He prefers not to use the term truth itself but "Regimes of Truth". In his historical investigations he found truth to be something that was itself a part of, or embedded within, a given power structure. Thus Foucault's view shares much in common with the concepts of Nietzsche . Truth for Foucault is also something that shifts through various Episteme throughout history.Foucault, M. "The Order of Things", London: Vintage Books, 1970 (1966) Baudrillard Jean Baudrillard considers truth to be largely simulated, that is pretending to have something, as opposed to dissimulation, pretending to not have something. He takes his cue from Iconoclast s who he claims knew that images of God demonstrated the fact that God did not exist.Jean Baudrillard. Simulacra and Simulation. Michigan: Michigan University Press, 1994. Baudrillard writes in "Precession of the Simulacra": ::The Simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth—it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true. ::—EcclesiastesBaudrillard, Jean: "Simulacra and Simulations", in ''Selected Writings'' ed. Mark Poster (Stanford; Stanford University Press, 1988) 166 ''ff'' attribution of this quote to Ecclesiastes is deliberately fictional. "Baudrillard attributes this quote to Ecclesiastes. However, the quote is a fabrication (see Jean Baudrillard. Cool Memories III, 1991-95. London: Verso, 1997). Editor’s note: In Fragments: Conversations With François L’Yvonnet. New York: Routledge, 2004:11, Baudrillard acknowledges this 'Borges-like' fabrication." Cited in footnote #4 in Smith, Richard G., "Lights, Camera, Action: Baudrillard and the Performance of Representations" International Journal of Baudrillard Studies, Volume 2, Number 1 (January 2005) [http://www.ubishops.ca/baudrillardstudies/vol2_1/smith.htm#_edn4 Some example simulacra that Baudrillard cites are: that prisons simulate the "truth" that society is free; scandals (eg, Watergate ) simulate that corruption is corrected; Disney simulates that the U.S. itself is an adult place. One must remember that though such examples seem extreme, such extremity is an important part of Baudrillard's philosophy. For a less extreme example consider how movies, almost without exception, end with the bad guy being punished, thus drilling into the viewers that successful businessmen and politicians are good or, if not, will be caught.Jean Baudrillard. Simulacra and Simulation. Michigan: Michigan University Press, 1994. TYPES OF TRUTH Metaphysical Subjectivism holds that the truth or falsity of all propositions depends, at least partly, on what we believe. In contrast, Metaphysical Objectivism holds that truths are independent of our beliefs. Except for propositions that are actually about our beliefs or sensations, what is true or false is independent of what we think is true or false. Relative truths are statements or propositions that are true only relative to some standard, convention, or point-of-view, such as that of one's own culture. Many would agree that the truth or falsity of ''some'' statements are relative: That the Fork is to the left of the Spoon depends on where one stands. Relativism is the doctrine that ''all'' truths within a particular domain (say, morality or aesthetics) are of this form, and entails that what is true varies across cultures and eras. For example, Moral Relativism is the view that a moral statement can be true in one time and place but false in another. This is different from the uncontroversial claim that people in different cultures and eras ''believe'' different things about morality: moral relativism is claiming that the moral facts themselves are different. Relative truths can be contrasted with absolute truths. The existence of absolute truths is somewhat controversial, but is strongly asserted by [[Universality (philosophy)
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