Texas GOP: "We oppose the teaching of higher
order thinking skills, critical thinking skills and
similar programs...[which] have the purpose of
challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and
undermining parental authority."
http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/vo26x/texas_gop_we_oppose_the_teaching_of_higher_order/
ToK - Truth
What does it mean to
say something is true?
Truth:
•
•
A verified or indisputable fact;
Conforming with facts or reality
ToK - Truth
Dogma:
an official system of
principles proclaimed as
unquestionably true by
a particular group
ToK - Truth
How ‘truthful’ is this?
ToK - Truth
Does truth matter?
ToK - Truth
To say something “is true”
is much less problematic
than to say it is “the truth”
Why?
Theory of Knowledge Diagram
Mathematics
Ways of Knowing
Natural
Sciences
Sense Perception
Ethics
Emotion
Areas of Knowledge
Knower(s)
Language
Arts
Reason
Human
Sciences
History
What is ‘truth’ in the different
Areas of Knowledge?
ToK - Truth
How many legs does a
dog have if you call the
tail a leg?
Four: calling a tail a leg
doesn’t make it a leg
ToK - Truth
“The truth, of course, is that a billion
falsehoods told a billion times by a
billion people are still false.”
Travis Walton
“A thing is not necessarily true
because a man dies for it.”
Oscar Wilde
ToK - Truth
ToK - Truth
There are
several theories
of what is meant by,
“x” is true....
ToK - Truth
1. Coherence Theory:
(Sitting and thinking;
logical truths)
ToK - Truth
According to this view, a proposition
is true if it is consistent with all the
other propositions we hold.
For example?
ToK - Truth
If the pieces fit together they are coherent like the pieces of a Jigsaw Puzzle
ToK - Truth
When the pieces of an argument
do not fit together they are
incoherent –
and we do not accept the
argument as true.
ToK - Truth
Coherent - but......
Examples?
ToK - Truth
2. Correspondence Theory:
(Going and looking;
observational truths)
ToK - Truth
“A true proposition must
correspond to or match
a state of affairs in the world.”
ToK - Truth
Directions - True
Distances - True
Shapes - True
Areas - True
It corresponds to the real world it is true and accurate
ToK - Truth
Mercator’s Projection
Easier to use but how well
does it correspond to reality?
For example?
ToK - Truth
A Cubist approach to
truth …
To know what is true
we need to look at
many different
perspectives and try to
combine them in a
coherent way that
corresponds to reality
ToK - Truth
“Truth is what stands the test of time”
Einstein
“There's a world of difference between
truth and facts. Facts can obscure truth.”
Maya Angelou
“Unthinking respect for authority is the
greatest enemy of truth.”
Einstein
Other ‘truth tests’
Authority
Consensus
Pragmatic
…and there are more
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criteria_of_truth
http://www.brentcunningham.org/?p=584
ToK - Truth
There are also those who are,
to a greater or lesser degree,
doubtful of our ability to
attain the truth,
and therefore of the
possibility
of any knowledge:
this kind of critical outlook is
called ‘Scepticism‘.
ToK - Truth
Relativism - argues that
there is (or, we can have)
nothing other than our
different outlooks
ToK - Truth
Examples of beliefs that are.....
1. true and useful?
2. true but not useful?
3. not useful and not true?
ToK - Truth
Theory
Criticisms
Correspondence
A proposition is true if it corresponds to a
fact
1.The correspondence theory requires the
existence of all sorts of ghostly facts to which
true statements are supposed to correspond
2. Since there is a gap between language and
the world, correspondence can never be
perfect
3. We cannot determine the truth or falsity of a
proposition in isolation from other propositions
Coherence
A proposition is true if it fits in with our
overall set of beliefs
1. Coherence is not sufficient for truth. A fairy
tale may be perfectly coherent, but it is still a
fairy tale.
2. With a little ingenuity, any crazy belief can
be made to appear coherent.
3. A knowledge claim that does not fit in with
your way of thinking might still be true.
Pragmatic
A proposition is true if it is useful or works
in practice
1. A proposition can be true but not useful, and
useful but not true.
2. Pragmatic theory implies that two
contradictory beliefs could both be true.
3. ‘Useful’ and ‘works in practice’ are too vague
to get us very far.
ToK – Truth (02)
Language
Does language
hide the truth
more than it
reveals it?
Perception
How far can our
senses be trusted
to give us the
truth?
Maths
Are math truths
universal and
timeless
Natural
Sciences
Ethics
Is truth more
important than
happiness?
Truth
Human
Sciences
Arts
What relation, if
any, is there
between beauty
and truth?
Is the scientific
method the best
way of finding the
truth?
History
Does the history
of ideas suggest
we are getting
closer to the
truth?
Do human beings
have any
privileged access
to truth?
ToK - Truth
Extras
Other theories and approaches:
ToK - Truth
Instead of trying to give and use a
definition of absolute or universal
truth, we can only study how the
concept of truth has been and is
being used in particular societies.
Foucault
ToK - Truth
“Keep the company of those who seek
the truth, and run away from those
who have found it”
Havel
ToK - Truth
Does the word truth mean the same thing
in each of these cases:
1. It is the truth that a triangle has 3 sides.
2. ‘There is ice at the North Pole’ is the truth.
3. There is real truth in that painting.
4. Ain’t that the truth!
5. This scripture is God’s truth.
ToK – Truth (02)
Some key points:
• Correspondence Theory says that a statement is true if it corresponds to
a fact; but it is not clear in what sense facts exist, and the language in
which we describe things will always fall short of reality
• Coherence Theory says that a proposition is true if it fits in with our
overall set of beliefs; but a set of beliefs can be coherent yet untrue
• Pragmatic Theory says that a proposition is true if it is useful or works in
practice; but a proposition can be true but not useful, and useful but not
true
• We cannot dispense with the idea of truth, and it could be argued that
the more perspectives we have on something the closer we get to the
truth about it
• Although it is generally considered good to seek the truth, it does not
always make us happy. The growth of modern technology in particular,
may make us wonder whether the costs sometimes outweigh the benefits
• Beyond knowledge lies wisdom, which might be said to consist of: good
judgement, breadth of vision, self-knowledge, responsibility and
intellectual humility
ToK - Truth
iii. Pragmatic
(Does it work? Is it useful?;
practical truths)
ToK - Truth
“The meaning of an idea is to be found
in an examination of the consequences
to which it would lead”
(C. S. Peirce)
ToK - Truth
A proposition is true if it works
or is useful in practice
ToK - Truth
Thus pragmatists hold that truth is
not absolute, but modified as
discoveries are made, and that it
is therefore relative to the time,
place and purpose of inquiry.