Lesseon 2: Methods of Philosophizing 2.2: Theories of Truth: Coherence Theory
Lesseon 2: Methods of Philosophizing 2.2: Theories of Truth: Coherence Theory
Lesseon 2: Methods of Philosophizing 2.2: Theories of Truth: Coherence Theory
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As a result, Coherence Theories have often been rejected for lacking justification in
their application to other areas of truth, especially in statements or claims about the
natural world, empirical data in general, and assertions about practical matters of
psychology and society, especially when they are used without support from the other major
theories of truth.
Coherence theories represent the ideas of rationalist philosophers such as Baruch
Spinoza, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and the British
philosopher F.H Bradley. Moreover, this method had its resurgence in the ideas of several
proponents of logical positivism, notably Otto Neurath and Carl Hempel.
3. The Pragmatist Theory of Truth:
The Pragramatic Theory of Truth states that a belief/statement is true if it has a
useful (pragmatic) application in the world. If it does not, then it is not true. In addition, we
can know whether a belief/statement is true by examining the consequence of holding or
accepting the statement/belief to be true. For example, there are some people who think
that there are “ghosts” or “vampires” because they find it useful in explaining unusual
phenomena and in dealing with fears (Mabaquiao, 2016). So, if we are going to use the word
“truth”, we define it as that which is most useful to us.
However, there are objections against this theory of truth. For Austin Cline, truth
that is based on what works is very ambiguous. What happens when a belief works in one
sense but fails in another? Suppose a belief that one will succeed may give a person the
psychological strength needed to accomplish a great deal but in the end he fails in his
ultimate goal. Was his belief “true”?
In this sense, Cline argues that when a belief works, it is more appropriate to call it
useful rather than “true”. A belief that is useful is not necessarily true and in normal
conversations, people do not typically use the word “true” to mean “useful”.
To illustrate, the statement “It is useful to believe that my spouse is faithful” does
not at all mean the same as “It is true that my spouse is faithful.” Granted that true beliefs
are also usually the ones that are useful, but it is not usually the case. As Nietzsche argued,
sometimes untruth may be more useful than truth. In sum, we can know if
statements/beliefs are true if we look at each statement/belief and determine if they
correspond to facts, cohere with the rules of the system and result into useful application.
It must be noted, however, that Philosophers “continue to argue with each other on
which among these three general methods is the correct one or one that works for all kinds
of statement or beliefs” (Mabaquiao, 59). Nevertheless, it is not necessary to subscribe to
only one method and consider it to work for everyone. Perhaps it is better to use any of the
three methods that is appropriate for any given statement or belief that is being examined
References
Books:
Abella, Roberto D. (2016). Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person.
Quezon City: C&E Publishing
Binswanger, Harry. (2014). How We Know. New York: TOF Publications.
Copi, Irving M. and Cohen, Carl (2002). Introduction to Logic (11th edition). New
Jersey: Prentice Hall
Hurley, Patrick J. (2011). A Concise Introduction to Logic (11th edition). Boston:
Cengage Learning
Mabacquiao, N. (2017). Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person. Quezon
City: Phoenix Publishing.
Peikoff, Leonard (1990). Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand. New York:
Dutton
Rand, Ayn (1990). Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology (2nd edition). New York:
Meridian
Stumpf, Samuel Enoch & Fieser, James (2008). Socrates to Sartre and Beyond
(8thedition). New Yok: McGraw Hill
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