Re: truths, 1
Gary Shank (P30GDS1 who-is-at MVS.CSO.NIU.EDU)
Fri, 19 Jan 96 09:19 CST
This may not be all that useful to most of us, but i've been
thinking about what Jay wrote in relation to issues of truth and
meaning. I am willing to buy everything that Jay says, if I also
buy the notion that inquiry is all about claims and propositions.
By this, I mean that if we are just talking about making and
evaluating propositions, then 'the truth of a claim' is only a
subset of the larger issue of 'the meaning of a claim.'
My poor understanding of realism (and I am not being ironic here)
says that a realist makes a fundamental and qualitative distinction
between a 'claim' and 'a state of affairs.' So that we can talk
about 'the meaning of a claim, but it is strange to talk about
'the meaning of a state of affairs' (but not impossible -- just
not what most semantic theorists seem to do). However, it is
okay to talk about both 'the truth of a claim' and 'the truth about
a certain state of affairs.'
For example-- suppose I discover a new asteroid, and call it
'vygotsky.' i am using the name 'vygotsky' simply as a label and
i attribute no real change in the asteroid's essence by this name
change. anyway, it was certainly a true state of affairs that this
asteroid existed before i discovered it. in addition, the claim
'asteroid vygotsky exists' is also true. it is meaningful to say
'asteroid vygosky exists' but to say that 'the existence of
the asteroid vygotsky is meaningful' before it
was discovered by me is a problematic notion. that is all i mean
to say when i say that truth and meaning cannot be reduced to each
other, and one should not be held as prior or privileged over the
otehr.
While i am rambling, i'd like to say one thing about Edouard's
feverish notion of reason vs faith. i think that if we oppose
reason and power, civilization wins hands down if reason triumphs.
the relation of reason and faith, though, is quite another matter.
Ricoeur once said that we have an instinct to venerate, and this
is an interesting notion....
briefly, i think that faith is undervalued in this culture, and
it is too linked with traditional religiosity. i think if we
developed a healthy respect and understanding for faith per se,
we could take some of the burden from religiosity, and do ourselves
a favor as well.....
gary shank
gshank who-is-at niu.edu