Finding and Confirming Truth by Pletz John S.;

Author:Pletz, John S.; [S. PLETZ, JOHN]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 616274
Publisher: University Press of America, Incorporated

3. THE CERTAINTY NEEDED FOR THE CONFIRMATION OF TRUTH

Factual truth is the same for every kind of statement about every kind of fact. The different approaches that we need to take in finding and confirming truth for different kinds of statements does not impact either the final objective or the final product. They present different ways to access the single goal, which is unchanging regardless of how well or how frequently we may reach it.

Furthermore, the truth of a true statement which we have not fully confirmed is exactly the same as the truth of a true statement which we have fully confirmed. The truth about the existence of atoms (“It is true that atoms exist”) has existed throughout the history of our universe (or at least as long as a consciousness would have been available to posit it), but our knowledge of that truth was only obtained through confirmations made by scientists in the early twentieth century. Prior to that time, the assertion was true; but until that time, no one could say that they had found it to be true because of the insufficiencies in the earlier confirmation efforts.

Whether we have founda truth requires us to consider the issue of certainty. What it takes for us to say that we know that we have found the truth for different types of statements will vary with the levels of certainty which we can attain in those confirmations. We are able to know the truth of a statement only when we reach the appropriate assurance level for it.

In my opinion, we should limit the acceptable use of statements that begin with “It is true that” only to those specific assertions which have been confirmed as best as that type of assertion can be confirmed. When we cannot draw that conclusion, we may still, in appropriate circumstances, say that the statement “might be true” or that it “seems to be true,” or even that “I just believe it to be true” (which is something we often do when choices about actions are necessary); but we should not categorically say that “It is true” unless it has been confirmed to the highest degree of certainty that is available for that kind of assertion. “Truth” should simply not be ascribed to any assertion which falls short of that mark. Many such statements might be true, and we might actually be able to fully confirm the truth of some of them later; but until and unless they have been confirmed as best as that type of assertion can be confirmed, we should not represent that we have attained the truth about them but rather communicate the lesser degree of confirmation which we have reached when we are describing their factual accuracy.

While we are able to attain relative certainty or effective certainty with respect to at least some statements in most of the different types of assertions we make, we often fall short of those levels. We need to make too many determinations about truth

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