Truth
Truth
As with all words, the word "truth" means what you define it to. No more, no less. However, although superficially a simple concept, the truth can have many different meanings in different contexts. So this is an attempt to provide a comprehensive and consistent definition of truth...
Truth in Observations, Beliefs and Ideas
Observations, belief and ideas are thoughts, i.e. they exist in our minds. Truth in them lies in the relationships between the terms: personal, shared, subjective, objective, observation, belief, ideas, illusion and real:
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An observation is something that is experienced. It may be real or an illusion. The person observing it does not necessarily believe it to be real, but it is true that they observed it.
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A personal observation is something that is observed by one person. So if one person watches an illusionist who is apparently plucking coins out of thin air, it is true that they see him pluck coins out of thin air, but that does not mean that they believe it, nor that it is real. It can be (and in this case is) an illusion.
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An shared observation is where a number of people observe the same thing. But no matter how many people see an illusionist pluck coins out of thin air, it still is an illusion.
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All observations are subjective, because they unavoidably involve interpretation. Hence there is no such thing as an objective observation. However, an observation can be objectively true, if it matches reality.
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An illusion is something that is observed, but is not real. It may or may not be believed to be real by the observer, but it is true that they observed it.
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A belief is something that is held to be real. It does not necessarily have to be observed, nor real, but it is true that it is believed.
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A personal belief is something that one person believes is true. So if one person sees an illusionist plucking coins out of thin air, and believes it to be real, that is a personal belief.
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A shared belief is held by more than one person. So if a number of people see an illusionist pick coins out of thin air, and believe it to be real, that is a shared belief.
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An idea is something that is thought. It does not necessarily have to be observed, believed, nor true. A true idea matches reality.
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A subjective belief or idea is one that does not wholly match reality.
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An objective belief or idea is one that matches reality.
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Reality is what exists, whether we observe it, or believe it to be so, or not.
- An illusion is an untruth as it is not real. However, untruth is a form of truth. I.e. Truth and untruth are not exclusive. There is a scale of truth between absolute untruth at one extreme and absolute truth at the other.
Truth in Statements
A statement is the externalization of an observation, belief or idea. The truth of a statement can be quite separate from the truth of the idea it describes. Thus I may say "I believe that the moon is made of green cheese". Whether this statement is true or not does not depend on whether the moon is actually made of green cheese. It only depends upon whether I believe this to be so. As such it is a statement of belief.
Whereas the statement "The moon is made of green cheese" is only true if:
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The moon is made of green cheese. Or...
- The moon is made of a material that is known as "green cheese".
The first is an example of an absolute (or literal) truth. The second is an example of relative (or metaphorical) truth. Hence this is a statement of fact (which may, or may not, be true).
The Meaning of Truth
By this definition, truth is a general term that has illusory, personal, shared, subjective and objective aspects. It also encompasses observations, beliefs and ideas as things-in-themselves, and statements about them. All are aspects of truth and its relationship to reality.
We may summarise the meaning of truth as:
- Statements are true to the extent that they accurately reflect the thing they describe, either in part or whole.
- Observations and ideas are true to the extent that they accurately reflect reality, either in part or whole.
- Some universals (whether real or imaginary) may be true in that they accurately reflect relationships inherent in reality.
- Physical entities are real and are neither true nor false; they simply are.
