Chapter 6: TRUTH

 CHAPTER 6: TRUTH

The concept of truth is one of the most basic concepts in logic. Truth is a matter of correspondence to reality. If you say "Paris is in France," then your statement is true since Paris is indeed in France. Whereas "Paris is in Japan" is false since it is not the case. When a statement is true, logicians like to say that it has T (truth) as its truth-value. When a statement is false, its truth-value is F (falsehood). If a statement is neither true nor false, then we say it lacks a truth-value. 

Æ RELATIVISM: Relativism is the view that there is no objective truth, and that truth is always a matter of perspective or opinion. However, this extreme position is difficult to defend. 

·      If relativism is objectively true, then "Either relativism is true or 1 + 1=2" is another objective truth. So, there cannot be just one objective truth! On the other hand, if relativism is true only relative to some perspectives, then it is not clear why it should be accepted, since it is also false relative to other perspectives. In any case, we might also wonder whether anyone is sincerely a relativist about all truths. Suppose we ask a relativist to jump off a plane without a parachute. Unless it is objectively true that he is likely to die, it is not clear why he should refuse. If everything is relative, then the prediction that he will not die is just as true (relative to some perspective) as the prediction that he will die (relative to another perspective).

·      There are other restricted forms of relativism that are milder and perhaps more plausible. These theories say that only certain types of truths are relative, not that all truths are. For example, relativism about taste is not implausible. Some people think warm beer tastes better than a cold beer and others disagree. Is there a correct answer or is it a matter of preference? If the latter, then this suggests that relativism about taste is true. But of course, this is quite compatible with the existence of objective truths outside the area of taste.

Æ STATEMENTS: There are three main sentence types:

TYPE	MAIN FUNCTION	EXAMPLE
DECLARATIVE	Make assertion	Amie is here.
INTERROGATIVE	Ask question	Is Amie here?
IMPERATIVE	Issue request or command	Come here, Amie!

 

·      A declarative sentence is a complete and grammatical sentence that makes a claim. So, here are some examples of statements in English:

•       Time flies.

•       The sky is dark and it will rain soon.

•       Everyone knows that the moon is made of green cheese.

•       The data and information provided on this web page is for informational purposes only and is not intended for trading or commercial purposes, unless written prior permission is obtained by the user from the author, though the author will not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

·      Statements can be true or false, short or long. But they must be grammatical and complete sentences. A good test of whether something is a statement is that it should still be grammatical if you add "it is true that" to the beginning of the statement—for example, "It is true that time flies." These, however, are not sstatements.

•       The United Nations (A proper name, but not a sentence.) 

•       Poker face (Not a complete sentence.)

•       Is it raining? (Not a declarative sentence.)

•       $,L©$,J§t:L£ (A meaningless string of symbols.)

Æ TYPES OF TRUTH: We spend a lot of time trying to find out whether certain things are true or not. It would help if we understand better the nature of three different kinds of truths:

TYPE OF STATEMENT	TRUE	FALSE
ANALYTIC	Every triangle has three sides.	All bachelors are married.
EMPERICAL	Some apples are green.	All birds can fly.
VALUE	We should not torture babies.	We should trouble babies.

 

·  An analytic truth is a statement that is true solely in virtue of the meaning of the words contained in the statement. Likewise, an analytic falsehood is a statement that is false solely in virtue of the meaning of the words in the statement. In both cases, what makes them true or false depend solely on the meaning of words and not other kinds of facts about the world. "Every triangle has three sides" is analytically true because of the definition of triangle. You do not need to look at all the different triangles one by one and count the number of sides they have.

·  On the other hand, the truth and falsity of an empirical statement depend on contingent (dependent) facts about the world, facts that could have been different if the history and physical laws of the universe had been any different. Knowing the meaning of the sentence "John is a bachelor" is not sufficient for knowing whether the sentence is true. You need to actually check John's marital status, perhaps in a government registry. Generally speaking, to find out whether an empirical statement is actually true, we need empirical observations or scientific studies.

·  A value statement is one about what is good or bad, what is morally right or wrong, or what we should or should not do. Value statements seem to be distinct from empirical statements because people can agree about all the facts and still disagree about what is good or bad. They also do not seem to be analytic because people might understand the meaning of a controversial value statement perfectly well and still disagree about its truth. 

Æ Analysing Questions and Issues

·      It is important not to confuse the three types of statements because they require different sorts of evidence to argue for or against them. This will help us analyse a complicated issue by breaking it down into three types of questions: questions about meaning, questions about empirical facts, and questions about values. Examples:

                                              i.     Which is the world's largest bank? To answer this question, we need to break it down into a question about the meaning and a question about empirical facts. First, we need to clarify what is meant by largest, because there are different ways of measuring the size of a bank—for example, assets, market value, and profit etc. One we have defined what largest means, which is the largest bank becomes an empirical question. In 2010, China's ICBC was the largest bank according to market value. But if we rank in terms of total assets then the Bank of America might be the world's largest bank instead.

                                            ii.     Should there be a minimum wage? Not every country has legislation mandating a minimum wage for workers. Is this something desirable? This question combines issues about meaning, empirical facts, and values. First, what do we mean by the minimum wage? How is the wage level determined?

                                          iii.     Does it apply to temporary or part-time workers? Then there are empirical questions about the legal, economic, and social consequences of introducing a minimum wage. Does it have any effect on unemployment? Does it increase inflation or layoffs (sackings)? Does it affect economic competitiveness? How does it affect those who are least well off? Finally, there are questions about values. What ought to be the role of the government in the labour market? How important is the freedom of contract? Is the imposition of a minimum wage consistent with justice, equality and fairness?

·      As we can see from these two examples, many complicated questions can be broken down into further questions along the three dimensions of meaning,facts, and values. This provides a systematic approach to analyse complicated issues.

Works Cited

Lau, J. Y. (2011). An Introduction to Critical Thinking and Creativity: Think More, Think Better. Hoboken, New Jersey: A John Wiley & Sons, INC., Publication.