A Path to a Conception of Symbolic Truth

226 Pages·2017·1.195 MB·English

by  Małgorzata Czarnocka

3
This book deals with correspondence truth, and offers an explanation of n
correspondence as a symbolization of reality. The author analyses those o
basic elements of known correspondence truth theories which are the cause ti
of their inadequacy. She focuses on the theories which try to modify the a
z
strongest classical theories and shows that these theories are unable to
i
free themselves from seeing correspondence as copying (mirroring). The il
v
book presents a “symbolic” correspondence truth theory claiming that cor-
i
respondence is a specific kind of symbolisation in a Cassirer-close sense, and C
correspondence truth is neither a copy, nor any other imitation of reality, l
a
but its symbol.
s
h rk
ut vewia
c Tr niako
li UKr
o
b a L.
m f
e
y sz
S d´o
f ry J
o ab
n wd
o e
pti ToEdit
e
c
n
o
C
a Małgorzata Czarnocka
o
t
h A Path to a Conception
t
a
P of Symbolic Truth
A
a ·
k
c
o
n
r
a
z
C
a
t
Małgorzata Czarnocka is Full Professor of Philosophy and editor-in-chief of a
z
two academic journals. She works at the Institute of Philosophy and Soci- or
ology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Her research interests include: g
ł
epistemology, philosophy of science, philosophical anthropology. a
M
www.peterlang.com ISBN 978-3-631-66100-0 PETER LANG
Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
A Path to a Conception of Symbolic Truth
TOWARDS A UNIVERSAL CIVILIZATION
WARSAW STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY, CULTURE
AND HISTORY OF IDEAS
(cid:3)
Edited by Malgorzata Czarnocka and Józef L. Krakowiak

BAND 3

(cid:3)
(cid:3)
(cid:3)
Małgorzata Czarnocka

A Path to a Conception
of Symbolic Truth
Translated (from Polish into English)
by Maciej Ba kowski

(cid:209)
Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche
Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in
the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic
data is available in the internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
Scientific work financed under the "National Program for the Development of
the Humanities" of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in years 2014–
2017; project No. 0148/NPRH3/H31/ 82/2014
Printed by CPI books GmbH, Leck
ISSN 2191-4052
ISBN 978-3-631-66100-0 (Print)
E-ISBN 978-3-653-05546-7 (E-PDF)
E-ISBN 978-3-631-70258-1 (EPUB)
E-ISBN 978-3-631-70259-8 (MOBI)
DOI 10.3726/978-3-653-05546-7
© Peter Lang GmbH
Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Frankfurt am Main 2017
All rights reserved.
Peter Lang Edition is an Imprint of Peter Lang GmbH.
Peter Lang – Frankfurt am Main ∙ Bern ∙ Bruxelles ∙ New York ∙
Oxford ∙ Warszawa ∙ Wien
All parts of this publication are protected by copyright. Any
utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without
the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to
prosecution. This applies in particular to reproductions,
translations, microfilming, and storage and processing in
electronic retrieval systems.
This publication has been peer reviewed.
www.peterlang.com
Table of Contents
Introduction .............................................................................................................9
Approaching the Truth Issue ................................................................................9
The Truth Issue and the Problem of Knowledge ..............................................11
The Correspondence Theory and Other Conceptions of Truth ....................12
Symbolism and the Nature of Truth ..................................................................14
Metaphilosophical Assumptions ........................................................................16
Part I. Correspondence Truth – Current Research
Chapter 1. The Fundaments of Modern Correspondence
Truth Conceptions. The Truth Theories of Bertrand
Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein ..................................................................21
1.1 Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Elucidation of Correspondence Truth ...............21
1.2 Bertrand Russell on Truth and the Correspondence Relation ...............28
1.3 The Character of Modern Correspondence Truth Conceptions ...........35
Chapter 2. Leszek Nowak’s Relative Truth Conception .....................43
Chapter 3. Verisimilitude. The Problem of Metaphysical
Nature of Correspondence Truth ......................................................................53
3.1 Karl Popper’s Resolution of the Truth Issue in Science ..........................53
3.2 Verisimilitude and Change in Science ......................................................58
5.3 Accusations against the Verisimilitude Conception ................................61
3.4 Verisimilitude and the Metaphysical Nature
of Correspondence Truth ...........................................................................66
5
Chapter 4. Partial Truth. Newton C. A. Da Costa
and Steven French’s Conception ....................................................................73
4.1 Between the Pragmatistic and Correspondence
Approaches to Truth ....................................................................................73
4.2 The Conception of Partial Truth ................................................................76
4.3 The Convergent Model of the Development of Science .........................84
Chapter 5. Approximate Truth Theories ..................................................87
5.1 Ryszard Wójcicki’s Truth Theory and the Fussiness of Reality ..............87
5.2 Approximation Truth Which Acknowledges Measurement Error ........97
5.3 Approximation Truth and Absolute Truth ............................................100
Chapter 6. The Analytic Method and the Character
of The Conception of Truth .........................................................................103
6.1 The Analytic Method and the Status
of Common-sense Knowledge ................................................................103
6.2 The Analytic Method and the Search for the Nature of Truth ............111
6.3 Investigating the Nature of Truth ...........................................................115
Part II. The Symbolic Nature of Correspondence Truth
Chapter 7. An Investigation of Correspondence
Truth — Method and Assumptions ..........................................................121
7.1 Focusing the Study on the Correspondence Relation ..........................121
7.2 Metaphysical and Epistemological Realism ...........................................124
7.3 Analysis of Perception as the Basis of Examining
Correspondence Relation ........................................................................129
6
Chapter 8 An Analysis of Perception ......................................................135
8.1 The Categories of Sensuous Experience .................................................135
8.2 The Subject of Perception ........................................................................142
8.3 Representation and Language .................................................................144
8.4 The Physical Perception Phase beyond the Subject ..............................148
8.5 The Subjective Physiological Phase ........................................................152
8.6 The Consciousness Phase ........................................................................156
8.6.1 Concept and model .........................................................................156
8.7 Transformation of Perceptual Models into Observational Sentences .......170
8.8 The Model Approach to Knowledge .......................................................172
Chapter 9. The Correspondence Relation — Symbolisation ........175
9.1 The Formation of the Correspondence Relation .......................................175
9.2 Correspondence and the Subject ............................................................175
9.3 Correspondence — the Relation .............................................................178
9.3.1 The arguments of the correspondence relation ............................184
9.4 Correspondence and Symbolisation. ......................................................185
9.4.1 The symbolic nature of correspondence
and correspondence truth ...............................................................197
9.5 The Characteristics of Correspondence Truth ......................................204
9.6 Symbolic Realism .....................................................................................207
Bibliography .......................................................................................................215
7

Introduction
Approaching the Truth Issue
This book deals with correspondence truth, i.e. truth which connects knowledge
and reality or, more illustratively, is an epistemic window to reality for the cogni-
tive subject. The starting point and basis for my reflections is the general concept
of correspondence, which is fundamental for correspondence understanding of
truth. I suggest an approach to the nature of correspondence truth which differs
from what contemporary correspondence theories propose, mainly in the way
the correspondence relation is identified.
All existing correspondence truth concepts are based on common-sense be-
liefs about the sense of truth which are generally accepted as obvious. In terms
of content, basing philosophical concepts on such common-sense beliefs and
their subsequent refining and honing to “smooth out all burrs and bumps” — as
analytic philosophy typically does — cannot take us beyond the common knowl-
edge about truth. Hence, this approach to the truth issue is unable to throw any
essential light on the nature of truth.
In a certain respect the way in which this book tackles the problem of truth
is ambivalent. On one hand, I believe that the concept of correspondence truth,
which says that truth is a link between a (true) sentence and reality, is the most
valuable underlying idea of truth, although not in, but rather against the utilitar-
ian sense. The acceptance and advocation of this idea and the pursuit of truth
as correspondence truth is an essential sign of selfless humanity which strives
for cognition for intellectual and not utilitarian purposes, which do not exhaust
human longings and needs. Entwined in a vast stream of dependencies, humans
who recognise the idea of correspondence truth are not guided solely by their
own interests, do not enclose themselves in groups which think identically (i.e.
accept the same “truths” by pragmatist consensus), but, regardless of social and
cultural pressure and personal gain, strive to attain reality cognitively and si-
multaneously remain as objective as possible. The pursuit of pragmatic truth,
so fashionable in today’s era marked by absurdly overgrown and degenerated
pragmatism, is in fact a tribute to self-centred, narrow and summary practicality
which sometimes takes on a vulgar tone.
On the other hand, I believe and will attempt to demonstrate that the corre-
spondence truth concepts produced by modern philosophy postulate an erroneous
9