COHERENCE THEORY OF TRUTH HOW TO

In contrast, the correspondence theory states that the truth conditions of propositions are not (in general) propositions, but somewhat objective features of the world. According to the coherence theory, the truth conditions of propositions consist of other propositions. The two theories also give conflicting accounts of truth conditions. It merely refers to the bearers of truth values, whatever they may be.) According to one, the relation is coherence according to the other, it is correspondence. (In this article, ‘proposition’ is not used in any technical sense. The first one is one conflicting accounts of the relation that propositions bear to their truth conditions. This theory is different from its primary competitor, the correspondence theory of truth, in two significant aspects.

(ed., 1962), Dictionary of Philosophy, Littlefield, Adams, and Company, Totowa, NJ.The coherence theory of truth states that “the truth of any (true) proposition consists in its coherence with some specified set of propositions” (Dorsey 494). (1992), Theories of Truth, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. Runes (ed.), Dictionary of Philosophy, Littlefield, Adams, and Company, Totowa, NJ. (1978), The Web of Belief, Random House, New York, NY, Chapter VIII. Runes (ed.), Dictionary of Philosophy, Littlefield, Adams, and Company, Totowa, NJ, p. 58. Cornelius (1962), 'Coherence Theory of Truth', in Dagobert D. ^ The Correspondence Theory of Truth (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).^ Harold Henry Joachim (1868-1938) (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy).^ Elizabeth Millan, Friedrich Schlegel and the Emergence of Romantic Philosophy, SUNY Press, 2012, p.^ a b c d e f g The Coherence Theory of Truth (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).

COHERENCE THEORY OF TRUTH HOW TO

The main problem for a coherence theory of truth, then, is how to specify just this particular set, given that the truth of which beliefs are actually held can only be determined by means of coherence. However, what most coherence theorists are concerned with is not all possible beliefs, but the set of beliefs that people actually hold. He maintained that since both a belief and its negation will, individually, cohere with at least one set of beliefs, this means that contradictory beliefs can be shown to be true according to coherence theory, and therefore that the theory cannot work. Perhaps the best-known objection to a coherence theory of truth is Bertrand Russell's. Exponents of this view infer that the most complete truth is a property solely of a unique coherent system, called the absolute, and that humanly knowable propositions and systems have a degree of truth that is proportionate to how fully they approximate this ideal. Others of this school of thought, for example, Brand Blanshard, hold that this whole must be so interdependent that every element in it necessitates and even entails every other element. In this view, a proposition is true to the extent that it is a necessary constituent of a systematically coherent whole. Joachim (the philosopher credited with the definitive formulation of the theory, in his book The Nature of Truth, published in 1906), truth is a systematic coherence that involves more than logical consistency. To state it in the reverse, that 'truth' exists only within a system, and doesn't exist outside of a system.Īccording to another version by H. Coherence theories of truth claim that coherence and consistency are important features of a theoretical system, and that these properties are sufficient to its truth. Ideas like this are a part of the philosophical perspective known as confirmation holism. It is the 'theory of knowledge which maintains that truth is a property primarily applicable to any extensive body of consistent propositions, and derivatively applicable to any one proposition in such a system by virtue of its part in the system'. Varieties Īccording to one view, the coherence theory of truth regards truth as coherence within some specified set of sentences, propositions or beliefs.

In contemporary philosophy, several epistemologists have significantly contributed to and defended the theory, primarily Brand Blanshard (who gave the earliest characterization of the theory in contemporary times) and Nicholas Rescher. However, Spinoza and Kant have also been interpreted as defenders of the correspondence theory of truth. In modern philosophy, the coherence theory of truth was defended by Baruch Spinoza, Immanuel Kant, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Harold Henry Joachim (who is credited with the definitive formulation of the theory).

Coherence theory of truth