Is truth absolute or can it be relevant to one’s perspective?
In the 1200’s there was the so-called “Double-Truth theory”, which distinguished between two types:
Philosophical truth – the world of nature, this perceivable world (matters of reason)
Theological Truth – the origin of the world, beginning of time, the mystery of creation (matters of revelation)
There are however, various other theories of truth which I’ll explain briefly below:
Correspondence – truth has to correspond with the actual state of affairs.
Coherence – truth is supported by a complete & comprehensive underlying set of concepts.
Pragmatic – truth is verified & confirmed by the results of putting it into practice so it is tested.
Constructivist – truth is constructed by social processes, so it’s historically & culturally specific.
Consensus – whatever is agreed upon by some specified group is the truth.
Minimalist – truth is a redundant concept because nothing can be known with certainty.
Pluralist – there is more than one property that makes something true.
Then there are formal theories applied to truth such as:
Logic – patterns in language reasoning (analytic truth).
Mathematics – models and proof
Semantics – constructing sentences with predicates (affirming verbs).
Folk Beliefs – theories that are useful in everyday life but always self-contradictory.
Modern day – truth is variable and different for everyone.
Definition: Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.
If you consider all the various theories about truth that I discussed above, what would your answer be to the following three questions? I’m looking forward to an interesting discussion about this, so please leave a comment below and let me know what your view is.