What does truth mean? Is this phenomenon subject to explanation and definition, and, moreover, does it exist at all? The great minds of mankind have been puzzling over these questions for centuries, and, given that almost all of them have come to their own conclusion, which differs from the others, the concept of truth has not been defined.
It is interesting that everyone has their own understanding of the truth, and all that remains for those who do not have their own personal definition is to join any philosophical current or religion and use the interpretation that it offers. To be objective, we will present in the article all the basic concepts of truth and its types, and then we conclude: where is its true meaning?
Types of truth
There are several types of this concept, but all of their meanings are relative.
Absolute
Here, truth is understood very abstractly and globally as the source of everything. It seems static and unchanged, but the concept of “eternity” is not included in this definition, which calls into question the characteristic of “unchanged”. According to this definition, absolute truth is the goal of philosophy and its good, however, at the same time, a contradiction is affirmed: it cannot be understood by reason because of its absoluteness.
Relative
Here, this phenomenon is perceived in the same way as an unattainable authority, but some flexibility in its understanding is allowed: relative truth is reliable knowledge about the current state of a process or phenomenon.
Objective truth
Here she is understood in the form of knowledge of objective facts. In simple words, objective truth is information that does not depend on who thinks about it: it is what it is, its content is preserved, but the form can be changed by the thinker.
Necessary
This kind of phenomenon is represented in the form of knowledge that is obtained through the connection of facts through internal sequence.
Random
This is the true knowledge that is obtained without prior focused thinking.
Analytical
Present when the property that is attributed to the object is contained in it because of its necessity.
Synthetic
This is a situation that requires additional information when discovering the truth.
Concepts of truth
- Correspondent. This definition guides journalists in reporting on events. Here objective truth is manifested in the form of correspondence of the expression (description, announcement) of reality, correspondence of thought with reality.
- Authoritarian. Truth as a conviction and faith to an authoritative person. It occurs quite often in religions.
- Truth as evidence. Here, this phenomenon is perceived as a clear idea of something.
- Semantic. It prohibits verbal definition, since a statement about a statement gives rise to paradoxes.
- Naturalistic. In this theory, truth is the idea that does not contradict the laws of nature, which means it corresponds to them.
- Conventional. In it, truth is identified with agreement. Of course, such an understanding of the phenomenon seems somewhat superficial.
- Coherent. Here objective truth is understood as a property of knowledge: if they are consistent with each other, then true.
- Pragmatic. According to this theory, only that which is useful is true. This includes all knowledge that can be of practical use in the form of increased efficiency or success.
Thus, objective truth has many understandings, and hardly any of them is truth. Maybe because it is such a deep concept that it cannot be concluded in any sign system, and its concrete existence is indefinable, because it is possible only between cognition and the process of cognition?