What Does the World Say About Truth

Meg McKim
One of the most heatedly discussed topics of all time would be the nature and
reliability of truth. Many have often wondered what truth is, how we know is truthful and
what is not. This is a hard question to answer, mostly because we dont know what truth
is. What one would call truth or what one would say is a lie is all biased, based on their
own personal opinion woven together through their experiences. In a world filled with
many different views and opinions, truth is hard to find and hard to decipher.
A 20th century philosopher named Edmund Gettier wrote a paper called Is
Justified True Belief Knowledge? in which he discussed several problems with truth and
how we view truth. He discussed how truth can be justifiable for a specific person is
they have proof even if their proof is incorrect. Because one believes that something is
true, and if it is in fact true or can be proven true then it must be. Many disagreed with
Gettiers thesis and paper. Gettier produced several examples in his book proving his
point. Gettiers Problem soon arose as many found holes in his theory. However, he
would later stretch to say that if anything cannot be proven correct, it must be false. And
because it is false, there is no belief or truth. Ones belief of what is true and what is not
true is justified based on their own knowledge and the knowledge they consider from
others.
Another philosopher entranced in the mystery of truth was Alvin Goldman. He too
also believed in justifiable truth. However, reliability played a bigger part in his notions.
He produced a paper called A Causal Theory of Knowing. In this paper he argues that
truth is from fact and knowledge and the truth is proven through a reliable process.

Later on in Goldmans life he focused more on social truths. During his time in history,
the United States government was lying to the people. Goldman found this interesting
and began to study how the government, society, and media lied to the people and vice
versa. He then wrote Knowledge in a Social World. In this book he discussed social
truths in a less radical yet formal way.
Fred Dretske wrote Seeing and Knowing. He was fascinated in truth being what
we could or couldn't see. He studying whether something was true because it was seen
or it was seen because it was true. Dretske discussed how believing was seeing and
therefore because of this revelation, true is also seen. Our senses find what we see and
this leads to truth being tangible and physically held or looked upon. Dretske also
looked into how a brain would participate in a seeing is believing view.
David Malet Armstrong believed also in justified belief. He studied how ones
beliefs would change over time. He often related his studies to a thermometer. As the
heat increases or decreases, so does the chemicals in the thermometer. This is true for
ones beliefs and for truth. Truth can change based on ones experiences and
environment.
One philosopher who stands out amongst the rest is Alvin Plantinga. Alvin
believed in Reformed Truth in which beliefs can be true even without proof or evidence.
They are simply rational without argument. He wrote a book in which he discussed his
beliefs called Warrant: A Current Debate.
The reliability of truth is different for each person. Everyone is going to have a
different way of finding truth, of seeking it out, as well as what they believe is truth. I
believe that a persons experiences and upbringing will not dictate what they perceive

as truth, but it will affect their opinions. What each person views as truth is going to be
different. Its almost like a snowflake, no two opinions are the same.
As I look more into what truth is and how its defined, I realize that truth is fact
based, its perspective and outcome. Truth for beliefs and truth for morals are two
different things. And while one person can define truth as one thing, the person next t
them is going to believe the opposite. What is truth is heavily debated because there is
no facts, there is no set in stone. Truth is all what we perceive it to be.

Works Cited
"Alvin Goldman." Alvin Goldman. N.p., n.d. Web. Apr. 2015.
"David M. Armstrong." David M. Armstrong. N.p., n.d. Web. Apr. 2015.
"Department of Philosophy." Alvin Plantinga // // University of Notre Dame. N.p., n.d. Web. Apr.
2015.

"Fred Dretske." Fred Dretske. N.p., n.d. Web. Apr. 2015.

"Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. N.p., n.d. Web.
Apr. 2015.
"Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?" Is Justified True Belief Knowledge? N.p., n.d. Web. Apr.
2015.
"Selected Papers and Chapters." Alvin I. Goldman -. N.p., n.d. Web. Apr. 2015.