User:LGreg/sandbox/Approaches to Knowledge (LG seminar 2020/21)/Seminar 18/Truth/Theories of Truth

The correspondence theory of truth
The correspondence theory of truth dates back to the Greek philosophers Aristotle and Plato. This theory states that “the truth or falsity of a statement is determined only by how it relates to the world and whether it accurately describes (i.e. corresponds with) that world. It outlines the idea that the truth of a statement is directly related to how it relates to the world. It aims to look at if this “truth” corresponds with the world and our reality. A statement that corresponds with the world/our reality would be considered true using this theory, while an idea that does not correspond with our world would be considered false. This theory of truth is one of the most common and popular when trying to understand the nature of truth. When determining if something is true or not using the correspondence theory of truth we should consider if the statement: corresponds to the facts, is part of a coherent system and works with what we already know about the world.

The coherence theory of truth
The coherence theory of truth is based on the assumption that something must be true if it corresponds to other things that we consider to be true already (in other words it does not contradict something we already believe to be true). However, often this contradicts scientific theories because often new discoveries do not correspond with our previous beliefs.

The pragmatic theory of truth
This theory is based on the assumption that something must be true if the information it provides is considered useful. Whether or not it aligns with our previous beliefs (coherence theory) or if it corresponds with our reality is not considered to be important. If the knowledge has a high “utility” it is considered to be true. A criticism of this theory however is that a statement that one person might find useful to believe, will not be useful to another and therefore they might find it more useful to consider it to be false. A person's actions might be influenced by what they chose to believe due to its personal utility.