Truth

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 (at least) four major types of "truth":

• /objective: the never-perfectly-knowable objective reality
• /evidenced: the best guess we can make at the truth from the evidence available
• /believed: what a person or group believes is true
• /received: what a person or group is told to believe is true
• /broadcast: what a person or group broadcasts as truth
  • /official: statements that an organization broadcasts about itself or its determinations of fact

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

Blog Entries

• 2007-08-16 Truth - The Neglected Virtue by Robin Hanson