Social Research Glossary A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Home
Citation reference: Harvey, L., 2012-24, Social Research Glossary, Quality Research International, http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/socialresearch/
This is a dynamic glossary and the author would welcome any e-mail suggestions for additions or amendments.
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Truth
Truth is that which is in the state of being true, i.e., that which accords with fact or reality or reason or logic.
When applied to the real objective world, truth implies absolutist observations of the world can be made which are not in error. Sceptics argue that this is an act of faith and that given the theory laden nature of observation then there can be no truth in the objective sense. Thus truth is a function of belief.
When applied to rational argument (either discoursive or mathematical) the ascription of truth depends upon accepted rules of reasoning or logic and truth values can be applied that determine the logical outcome of the structure of the argument. However, this says nothing about the truth of the content of the argument; elements or premises in the argument are allocated a truth value irrespective of any accordance with the object world.
Truth is usually taken to mean correspondence of an idea to the world outside thought. However, following Hegel, Marxists take truth to be something that may be said of a social formation or social practice itself. The truth of a social practice is always relative, since, as Goethe said: “All that exists deserves to perish” – sooner or later, everything turns out to be false....
Some philosophical currents believe that the truth of an idea can be established by logical deduction from “clear ideas.” In general, each current has its characteristic criterion of truth: for Rationalism it is Reason; for Empiricism it is Observation and Experiment; Pragmatism makes practice the criterion of truth, but like Empiricism, pragmatism knows only immediate, individual action and misses the cultural and historical content of social practice. If the claim that “practice is the criterion of truth” is to have any content more profound than “the truth of the pudding is in the eating,” then it depends on the notion of truth (as objectively inhering in the object itself) and practice (as social-historical practice, within the totality of a given culture.) If insisted upon too stridently, the claim that “practice is the criterion of truth” simply diminishes the value of philosophical reflection. If “practice is the criterion of truth” pure and simply, then the socialist revolutionary must wait for socialism to discover the truth of his practice, since socialism is the objective of his or her practice.
Ilyenkov shows that Hegel in fact, by insisting on the real, sensuously objective activity of man, solely as a criterion of truth, solely as the verifying authority for thought, betrayed his idealism. Indeed, for Marx, practice is far more than a criterion of truth, it is substance.
Lenin explained that while practice should be first and fundamental in the theory of knowledge, “the criterion of practice can never, in the nature of things, either confirm or refute any human idea completely.”
New World Encyclopedia contributors (2015):
The meaning of the word truth extends from honesty, good faith, and sincerity in general, to agreement with fact or reality in particular. The term has no single definition that the majority of professional philosophers and scholars agree on, as various theories of truth continue to be debated. There are differing claims on questions regarding truth, such as what constitutes truth, how to define and identify truth, the roles that revealed and acquired knowledge play, and whether truth is subjective, relative, objective, or absolute. This article introduces the various perspectives and claims in philosophy.
In religious contexts, truth is often attributed to the divine origin and associated as being eternal, absolute, and immutable. Truth is also understood not only as a matter of conceptual understanding, but as an issue of embodiment, which involves an existential way of being, religious experience, or way of living. An example is in Jesus' words "I am the truth" that indicate an inseparable relationship between truth and human existence.
See also
theory laden nature of observation
New World Encyclopedia contributors, 2015, 'Truth', New World Encyclopedia, last updated 19 December 2015, available at: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Truth&oldid=992910, accessed 21 May 2017.
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