absolute truths — Cidat
"Truth is a property of sentences, since sentences are dependent for their existence upon vocabularies, and since vocabularies are made by human beings, so are truths."
Richard Rorty — Tom Storm
I am interested to know how you can hold a true believe in things that require language to understand, without that language — Tom Storm
Surely you get the point. — creativesoul
Belief that a mouse ran behind a tree does not require language. — creativesoul
Well... it's not a 'mouse' or a 'tree' or 'running' if there is no web of linguistic relations operating. — Tom Storm
I've always wondered why this option exists at all? I can choose myths over knowledge. — Agent Smith
when we get to more complex beliefs like creation myths or morality how are these understood without language? — Tom Storm
when we get to more complex beliefs like creation myths or morality how are these understood without language?
— Tom Storm
They are not. But those are not problematic for Rorty. Nor are they prelinguistic. The prelinguistic true beliefs negate Rorty. — creativesoul
Sounds like I probably need Banno and some Austin... — Tom Storm
So do you have a functional definition of truth? — Tom Storm
I understand that some things are (or not) the case regardless of words. I also realise that to some extent this is situationally determined. A mouse runs behind a tree is an event. But how do we determine what is true when we talk about how we ought to live? Is this just a battle of perspectival value systems?
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