33

Truth Undefined & undefinable

 

WHAT IS TRUTH?

1- THE NATURE OF TRUTH

2- WHAT IS GOD?

3- THERE IS NO TRUTH
IN NUMBERS

4- THERE IS NO TRUTH
IN SCIENCE

5- ONLY ONE
TRUE PROPOSITION

6- Q&A

7- THEORIES OF TRUTH

8- TRUTH THAT LEADS
TO FREEDOM

9- TRUTH ABOVE ALL

10- WHAT TRUTH IS NOT!

12- BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY

14- THE NATURE
OF KNOWLEDGE

16- GROSSE ERRORS

20- CRITIQUE OF
BIBLE NUMERICS

22- HELIO-GEOCENTRISM

24- GOD AND BIG ROCKS

33- TRUTH UNDEFINED &
UNDEFINABLE

37- NEITHER TRUE
NOR FALSE

42- THE NATURE OF TRUTH
IN WESTERN ARMENIAN

53- GOD'S WILL
IS NOT A SECRET

65- Dr. GordonClark
Letter

67- Dr. Nash and his truth

73- The Unknowable God

90- COMING SOON

The following quotes make it clear that up until now philosophers have been unable to find a widely accepted and legitimate definition for the word Truth, and some have surrendered to the notion that Truth is Undefinable.

A few have twisted the idea of Truth to such an extent that their attempts at a definition are good examples of wasted effort. Several modern philosophers are unwilling to give up on a definition, and are still trying to define the word Truth in the context of Logic, Philosophy and Mathematics. Unfortunately, few if any Theologians are even aware that there is a problem.

These thinkers are not reluctant to use the word Truth under varied circumstances, but they are honest enough to admit that they do not know what it means. Some have acknowledged that they are using the word in a sense which is only vaguely understood by them and their audiences.

Probably no other word exists which is so commonly used and which has not had a valid definition. Human desire for the ideas that the word Truth connotes, such as justice, fairness, certainty, validity, agreement etc. is so strong, that people continue to use the word even though they have been unable define it.

 

We express our sincere thanks to the authors of the following valuable quotations:

 

The great success of mathematical logic is to have shown that all of logic is independent of a definition of truth (and luckily so, since the latter is undefinable).

Gabriele Lolli- Logical completeness, Truth, and Proofs. pg 119 in Truth in Mathematics, Dales & Oliveri, eds.- 1998- ISBN 0 19 851476 X

 

It is difficult, perhaps impossible, to give a logical definition of truth.

James Beattie- An Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth- p32- 1778

 

If you agree with me that truth is special, then I am at a loss to see how to aim at it, or to find it, or to verify its presence, by some general movement of my being.

F. H. Bradley- Essays in Truth and Reality- p220- 1914

 

Historically . . . truth has generally been assumed to be an absolute quality, elusive of definition or proof, perhaps, but invariable.

Chris Rohmann -  A World of Ideas- p410- 1999

 

Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.

Albert Einstein

 

Philosophy has reached no final truth. ... philosophizing raises more doubts than it can answer.

If a man looks for The Truth in the historical record of philosophy, he will find a bewildering succession of rash assumptions, and may be tempted to reflect on the futility of human thought.

J. H. Randall & J. Buchler- Philosophy: An Introduction- p17,19- 1957

 

The notion of truth in contemporary scholarship is a notoriously and sometimes surprisingly slippery one.

TruthBook.com

 

Truth may be defined as the absolute object, which would be known as the perfectly integrated One, if such knowledge were possible. In actual fact, however, such knowledge is impossible. ... none of the proposed philosophical alternatives for coping with the crisis of truth succeeded in dealing with it in such a way as to overcome it.

If absolute knowledge is outside our ken, universal knowledge is as impossible. To pretend that universal knowledge is possible, as in fact is done by all the contemporary philosophical alternatives ... is thus to mislead men.

The empirical limit ... which is so clearly manifest when we study the history of philosophy, teaches at the same time the inaccessibility to man of the truth.

G. A. Rauche- Contemporary Philosophical Alternatives and the Crisis of Truth- pp89,103,105 -1970

 

There are no truths, said Nietzsche... Logic cries out against this remark. For is it true?

Nietzsche was a genius... and one of the few who have peered into the abyss... Don't come down this path, his writings tell us, for this way madness lies.

Roger Scruton- An Intelligent Person's Guide to Philosophy- p27- 1996

 

 ... it is probable that the content of the word 'true' is unique and indefinable.

Frege, G.; The Thought: A Logical Inquiry,
In Strawson, P.F., ed. Philosophical Logic, p19

 

We have not been able to discover, either in the real or ideal order, a truth, the origin of all other truths to our intellect while in this life. Therefore it stands proved that transcendental science properly so called is for us a chimera.

Rev. James Balmes- Fundamental Philosophy- p92- 1856

He who wants the truth must not be disappointed when the truth is negative. It is better to know a negative truth than to demand the unattainable.

Reichenbach, H - The Rise of Scientific Philosophy - p324

 

... we are seekers for truth but we are not its possessors.

Karl Popper - Objective Knowledge - p47

 

A finite intellect cannot by means of comparison reach the absolute truth of things. Being by nature indivisible, truth excludes 'more' or 'less', so that nothing but truth itself can be the exact measure of truth.

Nicolas of Cusa (1401-1464) - Of Learned Ignorance

 

It is impossible to think that we do not know what such an ordinary, simple notion as that of truth is; yet the attempt to give a definition of its meaning brings quite unexpected difficulties to light, and the widest divergence at the present time between rival principles of philosophical interpretation is in regard to a theory of the nature of truth.

H. Wildon Carr- The Problem of Truth- p9- 1913

 

 

^^ RETURN TO TOP ^^

 

Your comments & questions are welcome at: Q&A@Truth-Defined.com

©1997, 2008 www.Truth-Defined.com - All Rights Reserved

The reader is hereby given permission to copy and distribute
any or all pages from this web site as long as text and graphics is not altered
and the copyright and this permission statement is included
as part of all reproduced copies.