Blackwell Reference Online

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Truth is in propositions only and not in things (DCo 3.7–8). For this reason, a “man that seeks precise truth” needs to remember what the words he uses stand for “or else he will find himself entangled in words, as a bird in lime-twigs; the more he struggles, the more belimed” (L 4.12). Geometry was the first science because it begins with definitions that specify the meanings of words.Sometimes “truth” is used in contexts that might suggest that it is facts or events that are true; but in such cases, there is a straightforward paraphrase of the expression that makes it clear what proposition is being said to be true. For example, the phrase “truth of the resurrection of Christ” should be understood to mean “the truth of this fundamental article of Christian religion, that Jesus was the Christ” (L 42.12). (See also language and speech; propositions.)Notwithstanding this explicit treatment of “truth,” there are places in which truth is explicated differently. When the book of Exodus says that the high priest was given “evidence and truth,” truth is tantamount to infallibility (L 42.93). ... log in or subscribe to read full text