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-[[Er zijn, dacht ik, twee soorten verhalen, ware verhalen en verdichtsels.]]+The '''''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''''' ('''SEP''') is a [[Open access (publishing)|freely-accessible]] [[online encyclopedia]] of [[philosophy]] maintained by [[Stanford University]]. Each entry is written and maintained by an [[expert]] in the field, including [[professor]]s from over 65 [[academic institution]]s worldwide. Authors contributing to the Encyclopedia give Stanford University the permission to publish the articles but retain the [[copyright]] to those articles. As of January 20, 2011, the SEP has 1260 published entries. Apart from its online status, the encyclopedia uses the traditional academic approach of most encyclopedias and [[academic journal]]s to achieve quality by means of:
 +* specialist authors selected by an [[editing|editor]] or an editorial committee which is competent (though not necessarily a specialist) in the field covered by the encyclopedia; and
 +* [[peer review]].
-==Notable views==+The Encyclopedia was created in 1995 by [[Edward N. Zalta]], with the explicit aim of providing a dynamic encyclopedia which is updated regularly, and so does not become dated in the manner of print encyclopedias. The charter for the encyclopedia allows for rival articles on a single topic to reflect reasoned disagreements amongst scholars. The SEP was initially developed with U.S. public funding from the [[National Endowment for the Humanities|NEH]] and [[National Science Foundation|NSF]]. A long-term fundraising plan to preserve open access to the Encyclopedia is supported by many university libraries and library consortia. These institutions contribute under a plan devised by the SEP in collaboration with the [[Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition]] (SPARC), the [[International Coalition of Library Consortia]] (ICOLC) and the [[Southeastern Library Network]] (SOLINET), with matching funding from the NEH.
-''[[La Vérité]]'' ("Truth") by [[Jules Joseph Lefebvre]]+
- +
-===Ancient history===+
-The ancient [[Greek language|Greek]] origins of the words "true" and "truth" have some consistent definitions throughout great spans of history that were often associated with topics of [[logic]], [[geometry]], [[mathematics]], [[Deductive reasoning|deduction]], [[inductive reasoning|induction]], and [[natural philosophy]].+
- +
-[[Socrates|Socrates']], [[Plato|Plato's]] and [[Aristotle|Aristotle's]] ideas about truth are commonly seen as consistent with correspondence theory. In his ''[[Metaphysics (Aristotle)|Metaphysics]]'', Aristotle stated: “To say of what is that it is not, or of what is not that it is, is false, while to say of what is that it is, and of what is not that it is not, is true”. The [[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] proceeds to say of Aristotle:+
- +
-<blockquote>Aristotle sounds much more like a genuine correspondence theorist in the ''Categories'' (12b11, 14b14), where he talks of “underlying things” that make statements true and implies that these “things” (pragmata) are logically structured situations or facts (viz., his sitting, his not sitting). Most influential is his claim in ''De Interpretatione'' (16a3) that thoughts are “likenessess” (homoiosis) of things. Although he nowhere defines truth in terms of a thought's likeness to a thing or fact, it is clear that such a definition would fit well into his overall philosophy of mind.</blockquote>+
- +
-Very similar statements can also be found in Plato (Cratylus 385b2, Sophist 263b).+
- +
-In Hinduism, Truth is defined as "unchangeable", "that which has no distortion", "that which is beyond distinctions of time, space, and person", "that which pervades the universe in all its constancy". Human body, therefore is not completely true as it changes with time, for example. There are many references, properties and explanations of truth by Hindu sages that explain varied facets of truth, such as "Satyam eva jayate"(Truth alone wins), "Satyam muktaye" (Truth liberates), Satya' is 'Parahit'artham' va'unmanaso yatha'rthatvam' satyam (Satya is the benevolent use of words and the mind for the welfare of others or in other words responsibilities is truth too), "When one is firmly established in speaking truth, the fruits of action become subservient to him ( patanjali yogasutras, sutra number 2.36 ), "The face of truth is covered by a golden bowl. ''Unveil it, O Pusan (Sun), so that I who have truth as my duty (satyadharma) may see it!''" (Brhadaranyaka V 15 1-4 and the brief IIsa Upanisad 15-18), Truth is superior to silence(Manusmriti), etc. Combined with other words, satya acts as modifier, like "'''ultra'''" or "'''highest'''," or more literally "'''truest'''," connoting '''purity and excellence'''. For example, satyaloka is the "highest heaven' and Satya Yuga is the "golden age" or best of the four cyclical cosmic ages in Hinduism, and so on.+
- +
-===Medieval age===+
-====Avicenna====+
-In [[early Islamic philosophy]], [[Avicenna]] (Ibn Sina) defined truth in his Metaphysics of Healing, Book I, Chapter 8, as:+
- +
-:"What corresponds in the mind to what is outside it."+
- +
- +
-[[Avicenna]] elaborated on his definition of truth in his ''[[Metaphysics]]'' Book Eight, Chapter 6:+
- +
-:"The truth of a thing is the property of the being of each thing which has been established in it."+
- +
-However, this definition is merely a translation of the Latin translation from the Middle Ages. A modern translation of the original Arabic text states:+
- +
-:"Truth is also said of the veridical belief in the existence [of something]."+
- +
-====Aquinas====+
-Following Avicenna, and also Augustine and Aristotle, [[Thomas Aquinas]] stated in his ''Disputed Questions on Truth'':+
- +
-:"A natural thing, being placed between two intellects, is called ''true'' insofar as it conforms to either. It is said to be true with respect to its conformity with the divine intellect insofar as it fulfills the end to which it was ordained by the divine intellect... With respect to its conformity with a human intellect, a thing is said to be true insofar as it is such as to cause a true estimate about itself."+
- +
-Thus, for Aquinas, the truth of the human intellect (logical truth) is based on the truth in things (ontological truth). Following this, he wrote an elegant re-statement of Aristotle's view in his [http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1016.htm Summa I.16.1]:+
- +
-:"Veritas est adæquatio intellectus et rei. <br> (Truth is the conformity of the intellect to the things.)"+
- +
-Aquinas also said that real things participate in the act of being of the [[God|Creator God]] who is Subsistent Being, Intelligence, and Truth. Thus, these beings possess the light of intelligibility and are knowable. These things (beings; [[reality]]) are the foundation of the truth that is found in the human mind, when it acquires knowledge of things, first through the [[sense]]s, then through the [[understanding]] and the [[judgement]] done by [[reason]]. For Aquinas, human [[intelligence]] ("intus", within and "legere", to read) has the capability to reach the [[essence]] and [[existence]] of things because it has a non-material, [[Spirituality|spiritual]] element, although some moral, educational, and other elements might interfere with its capability.+
- +
-===Modern age===+
-====Kant====+
- +
-[[Immanuel Kant]] discussed the correspondence theory of truth in the following manner, criticizing correspondence theory as [[Begging the question|circular reasoning]].+
-<blockquote>Truth is said to consist in the agreement of knowledge with the object. According to this mere verbal definition, then, my knowledge, in order to be true, must agree with the object. Now, I can only compare the object with my knowledge by this means, namely, by taking knowledge of it. My knowledge, then, is to be verified by itself, which is far from being sufficient for truth. For as the object is external to me, and the knowledge is in me, I can only judge whether my knowledge of the object agrees with my knowledge of the object. Such a circle in explanation was called by the ancients [[Diallelos]]. And the logicians were accused of this fallacy by the sceptics, who remarked that this account of truth was as if a man before a judicial tribunal should make a statement, and appeal in support of it to a witness whom no one knows, but who defends his own credibility by saying that the man who had called him as a witness is an honourable man.+
-</blockquote>+
-According to Kant, the definition of truth as correspondence is a "mere verbal definition", here making use of Aristotle's distinction between a nominal definition: a definition in name only, and a real definition: a definition that shows the [[Definition#Essence|true cause or essence]] of the term that is being defined. From Kant's account of the history, the definition of truth as correspondence was already in dispute from classical times, the "skeptics" criticizing the "logicians" for a form of circular reasoning, though the extent to which the "logicians" actually held such a theory is not evaluated.+
- +
- +
-====Hegel====+
-[[Georg Hegel|Hegel]] tried to distance his philosophy from psychology by presenting truth as being an external self&ndash;moving object instead of being related to inner, subjective thoughts. Hegel's truth is analogous to the [[mechanics]] of a material body in motion under the influence of its own inner force. "Truth is its own self&ndash;movement within itself." Teleological truth moves itself in the three&ndash;step form of [[Dialectic|dialectical triplicity]] toward the final goal of perfect, final, absolute truth. For Hegel, the progression of philosophical truth is a resolution of past oppositions into increasingly more accurate approximations to absolute truth. [[Heinrich Moritz Chalybäus|Chalybäus]] used the terms "[[Thesis, antithesis, synthesis|thesis]]", "[[Thesis, antithesis, synthesis|antithesis]]", and "[[Thesis, antithesis, synthesis|synthesis]]" to describe Hegel's dialectical triplicity. The "thesis" consists of an incomplete historical movement. To resolve the incompletion, an "antithesis" occurs which opposes the "thesis." In turn, the "synthesis" appears when the "thesis" and "antithesis" become [[Sublation|reconciled]] and a higher level of truth is obtained. This "synthesis" thereby becomes a "thesis," which will again necessitate an "antithesis," requiring a new "synthesis" until a final state is reached as the result of reason's historical movement. History is the [[Absolute (philosophy)|Absolute Spirit]] moving toward a goal. This historical progression will finally conclude itself when the Absolute Spirit understands its own infinite self at the very end of history. Absolute Spirit will then be the complete expression of an infinite [[God]].+
- +
-====Schopenhauer====+
-For [[Arthur Schopenhauer|Schopenhauer]], a [[judgment]] is a combination or separation of two or more [[concept]]s. If a judgment is to be an expression of [[knowledge]], it must have a [[Principle of sufficient reason|sufficient reason]] or ground by which the judgment could be called true. ''Truth is the reference of a judgment to something different from itself which is its sufficient reason (ground)''. Judgments can have material, formal, transcendental, or metalogical truth. A judgment has ''material'' truth if its concepts are based on intuitive perceptions that are generated from sensations. If a judgment has its reason (ground) in another judgment, its truth is called logical or ''formal''. If a judgment, of, for example, pure mathematics or pure science, is based on the forms (space, time, causality) of intuitive, empirical knowledge, then the judgment has ''transcendental'' truth.+
- +
-====Kierkegaard====+
-When [[Søren Kierkegaard]], as his character ''Johannes Climacus'', ends his writings: ''My thesis was, subjectivity, heartfelt is the truth'', he does not advocate for [[subjectivism]] in its extreme form (the theory that something is true simply because one believes it to be so), but rather that the objective approach to matters of personal truth cannot shed any light upon that which is most essential to a person's life. Objective truths are concerned with the facts of a person's being, while subjective truths are concerned with a person's way of being. Kierkegaard agrees that objective truths for the study of subjects like mathematics, science, and history are relevant and necessary, but argues that objective truths do not shed any light on a person's inner relationship to existence. At best, these truths can only provide a severely narrowed perspective that has little to do with one's actual experience of life.+
- +
-While objective truths are final and static, subjective truths are continuing and dynamic. The truth of one's existence is a living, inward, and subjective experience that is always in the process of becoming. The values, morals, and spiritual approaches a person adopts, while not denying the existence of objective truths of those beliefs, can only become truly known when they have been inwardly appropriated through subjective experience. Thus, Kierkegaard criticizes all systematic philosophies which attempt to know life or the truth of existence via theories and objective knowledge about reality. As Kierkegaard claims, human truth is something that is continually occurring, and a human being cannot find truth separate from the subjective experience of one's own existing, defined by the values and fundamental essence that consist of one's way of life.+
- +
-====Nietzsche====+
-[[Friedrich Nietzsche]] believed the search for truth or 'the will to truth' was a consequence of the ''[[will to power]]'' of philosophers. He thought that truth should be used as long as it promoted life and the will to power, and he thought untruth was better than truth if it had this life enhancement as a consequence. As he wrote in ''[[Beyond Good and Evil]]'', "''The falseness of a judgment is to us not necessarily an objection to a judgment... The question is to what extent it is life-advancing, life-preserving, species-preserving, perhaps even species-breeding...''" (aphorism 4). He proposed the ''will to power'' as a truth only because according to him it was the most life affirming and sincere perspective one could have.+
- +
-Robert Wicks discusses Nietzsche's basic view of truth as follows:+
-<blockquote>Some scholars regard Nietzsche's 1873 unpublished essay, "On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense" ("Über Wahrheit und Lüge im außermoralischen Sinn") as a keystone in his thought. In this essay, Nietzsche rejects the idea of universal constants, and claims that what we call "truth" is only "a mobile army of metaphors, metonyms, and anthropomorphisms." His view at this time is that arbitrariness completely prevails within human experience: concepts originate via the very artistic transference of nerve stimuli into images; "truth" is nothing more than the invention of fixed conventions for merely practical purposes, especially those of repose, security and consistence.+
-</blockquote>+
- +
-====Whitehead====+
- +
-[[Alfred North Whitehead]], a British mathematician who became an American philosopher later, said: "There are no whole truths; all truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that play the devil".+
- +
-The logical progression or connection of this line of thought is to conclude that truth can lie, since [[half-truth]]s are deceptive and may lead to a false conclusion.+
- +
-====Nishida====+
-According to [[Kitaro Nishida]], "knowledge of things in the world begins with the differentiation of unitary consciousness into knower and known and ends with self and things becoming one again. Such unification takes form not only in knowing but in the valuing (of truth) that directs knowing, the willing that directs action, and the feeling or emotive reach that directs sensing."+
- +
-====Fromm====+
-[[Erich Fromm]] finds that trying to discuss truth as "absolute truth" is sterile and that emphasis ought to be placed on "optimal truth". He considers truth as stemming from the survival imperative of grasping one's environment physically and intellectually, whereby young children instinctively seek truth so as to orient themselves in "a strange and powerful world". The accuracy of their perceived approximation of the truth will therefore have direct consequences on their ability to deal with their environment. Fromm can be understood to define truth as a functional approximation of reality. His vision of optimal truth is described partly in "Man from Himself: An Inquiry into the Psychology of Ethics" (1947), from which excerpts are included below.+
- +
-: the dichotomy between 'absolute = perfect' and 'relative = imperfect' has been superseded in all fields of scientific thought, where "it is generally recognized that there is no absolute truth but nevertheless that there are objectively valid laws and principles".+
- +
-: In that respect, "a scientifically or rationally valid statement means that the power of reason is applied to all the available data of observation without any of them being suppressed or falsified for the sake of a desired result". The history of science is "a history of inadequate and incomplete statements, and every new insight makes possible the recognition of the inadequacies of previous propositions and offers a springboard for creating a more adequate formulation."+
- +
-: As a result "the history of thought is the history of an ever-increasing approximation to the truth. Scientific knowledge is not absolute but optimal; it contains the optimum of truth attainable in a given historical period." Fromm furthermore notes that "different cultures have emphasized various aspects of the truth" and that increasing interaction between cultures allows for these aspects to reconcile and integrate, increasing further the approximation to the truth.+
- +
-====Foucault====+
-Truth, for [[Michel Foucault]], is problematic when any attempt is made to see truth as an "objective" quality. He prefers not to use the term truth itself but "Regimes of Truth". In his historical investigations he found truth to be something that was itself a part of, or embedded within, a given power structure. Thus Foucault's view shares much in common with the concepts of [[Truth#Nietzsche|Nietzsche]]. Truth for Foucault is also something that shifts through various [[episteme]] throughout history.+
- +
-====Baudrillard====+
-[[Jean Baudrillard]] considered truth to be largely simulated, that is pretending to have something, as opposed to dissimulation, pretending to not have something. He took his cue from [[iconoclasm|iconoclast]]s who he claims knew that images of God demonstrated the fact that God did not exist. Baudrillard wrote in "Precession of the Simulacra":+
-::The [[simulacrum]] is never that which conceals the truth—it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true.+
-::—Ecclesiastes (Baudrillard's attribution of this quote to [[Ecclesiastes]] is deliberately fictional. In Fragments: Conversations With François L’Yvonnet, Baudrillard acknowledges this 'Borges-like' fabrication.+
- +
-Some examples of simulacra that Baudrillard cited were: that prisons simulate the "truth" that society is free; scandals (e.g., [[Watergate scandal|Watergate]]) simulate that corruption is corrected; Disney simulates that the U.S. itself is an adult place. One must remember that though such examples seem extreme, such extremity is an important part of Baudrillard's theory. For a less extreme example, consider how movies usually end with the bad being punished, humiliated, or otherwise failing, thus affirming for viewers the concept that the good end happily and the bad unhappily, a narrative which implies that the status quo and institutionalised power structures are largely legitimate.+
- +
-====Ratzinger====+
-Philosopher and theologian [[Joseph Ratzinger]], before his election as [[Benedict XVI]], commented upon the relationship of truth with [[tolerance]], [[conscience]], [[liberty|freedom]], and [[religion]]. For him, "beyond all particular questions, the real problem lies in the question of truth."+
- +
-Ratzinger refers to achievements of the [[natural science]]s as evidence that human reason has the power to know reality and arrive at truth. He also argues that "the modern self-limitation of reason" rooted in [[Immanuel Kant]]'s philosophy, which views itself incapable of knowing religion and the [[human science]]s such as [[ethics]], leads to dangerous pathologies of religion and pathologies of science. He thinks that this self-limitation, which "amputates" the mind's capacity to answer fundamental questions such as man's origin and purpose, dishonors reason and is contradictory to the modern acclamation of science, whose basis is the power of reason.+
- +
-In his book ''Truth and Tolerance'', Ratzinger argued that truth and [[love]] are identical. And if well understood, according to him, this is "the surest guarantee of tolerance."+
 +==See also==
 +* [[Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]
 +* [[List of online encyclopedias]]
 +* [[Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]
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The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP) is a freely-accessible online encyclopedia of philosophy maintained by Stanford University. Each entry is written and maintained by an expert in the field, including professors from over 65 academic institutions worldwide. Authors contributing to the Encyclopedia give Stanford University the permission to publish the articles but retain the copyright to those articles. As of January 20, 2011, the SEP has 1260 published entries. Apart from its online status, the encyclopedia uses the traditional academic approach of most encyclopedias and academic journals to achieve quality by means of:

  • specialist authors selected by an editor or an editorial committee which is competent (though not necessarily a specialist) in the field covered by the encyclopedia; and
  • peer review.

The Encyclopedia was created in 1995 by Edward N. Zalta, with the explicit aim of providing a dynamic encyclopedia which is updated regularly, and so does not become dated in the manner of print encyclopedias. The charter for the encyclopedia allows for rival articles on a single topic to reflect reasoned disagreements amongst scholars. The SEP was initially developed with U.S. public funding from the NEH and NSF. A long-term fundraising plan to preserve open access to the Encyclopedia is supported by many university libraries and library consortia. These institutions contribute under a plan devised by the SEP in collaboration with the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) and the Southeastern Library Network (SOLINET), with matching funding from the NEH.

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Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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