Truth
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About
Truth is an attribute which may or may not apply to any given piece of information. It is one of the most basic concepts underlying rationality and the way we think about the world, and is hence rather difficult to define objectively.
There are several major types of "truth" (approximately progressing from best to worst):
- objective: the never-perfectly-knowable objective reality; "actual truth"
- evidenced: the best guess we can make at the actual truth from the evidence available
- believed: what a person or group believes is true, whether or not supported by evidence
- received: what a person or group is told to believe is true (which may or may not be what they believe)
- broadcast: what a person or group broadcasts as truth (which may or may not be what they actually believe)
- official: statements that an organization broadcasts about itself or its determinations of fact, but generally cohering to an overall narrative
- imposed: beliefs which an organization seeks to require others to believe, through penalizing and suppressing dissenting statements and arguments
Usage
Unless otherwise qualified, Issuepedia's use of words like "truth", "facts", "reality", and "actual" refer to evidenced truth.
Related Pages
- Epistemology is the study of truth; antiepistemology is the study of truth-hiding.
- (The belief system article, short as it is, probably needs rethinking.)
Reference
- Wikipedia:
- Truth
- Truth theory (or a theory of truth) is a conceptual framework that underlies a particular conception of truth, such as those used in art, ethics, logic, mathematics, philosophy, the sciences, or any discussion that either mentions or makes use of a notion of truth.
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Truth
Blog Entries
- 2007-08-16 Truth - The Neglected Virtue by Robin Hanson