On truth

I affirm the following statements:

• There is a real world out there, independent of us. It has existed for about 14 billion years, and thus existed before we or any other conscious observers came to be. Thoughts do not determine reality. Reality is not a social construct.

• I find it convenient to define the word "truth" to mean "whatever statements describe the world accurately".

• There is however no correct definition of the word "truth". You can define any word any way you want. If someone wanted to define the word "truth" as "any sentence written in red ink" then I would not know how to argue with him, aside from noting the confusion it would cause.

• My definition of the word "truth" - whatever statements describe the world accurately - is pretty close to the man-in-the-street's definition. People using non-standard definitions ought to say so before they talk about what is and is not true.

• My definition of the word "truth" is based on what is useful, but it does not follow that I therefore subscribe to the pragmatist idea of truth - that truth is whatever is useful. I am merely a pragmatist about how to define words.

• It is not very sensible to ask: "Is it true that truth is whatever statements describe the world accurately?" There's nothing in the universe that makes any particular definition of the word "truth" true. However, it is true that most people think of truth as whatever statements describe the world accurately.

Written: 2008-11-15
allancrossman.com