Empirical Studies on <i>Truth</i> and the Project of Re‐engineering <i>Truth</i>
Kevin Reuter, Georg Brun
Abstract
Abstract Most philosophers have largely downplayed any relevance of multiple meanings of the folk concept of truth in the empirical domain. However, confusions about what truth is have surged in political and everyday discourse. In order to resolve these confusions, we argue that we need a more accurate picture of how the term ‘true’ is in fact used. Our experimental studies reveal that the use of ‘true’ shows substantial variance within the empirical domain, indicating that ‘true’ is ambiguous between a correspondence and a coherence reading. We then explore the consequences of these results for the project of re‐engineering truth .
Topics & Concepts
EpistemologyCoherence (philosophical gambling strategy)Relevance (law)Variance (accounting)Reading (process)PhilosophyPragmatic theory of truthCoherence theory of truthEmpirical researchOrder (exchange)PoliticsTerm (time)Truth valueLinguisticsLawPolitical scienceMathematicsEconomicsPhysicsFinanceQuantum mechanicsStatisticsAccountingPsychology of Moral and Emotional JudgmentEpistemology, Ethics, and MetaphysicsMisinformation and Its Impacts