[lit-ideas] Re: Here's a useful word for the list....
- From: wokshevs@xxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Ursula Stange <Ursula@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2006 17:31:21 -0330
Well, if the question being posed here really is about what the nature of truth
is, what's wrong with whats-his-name's view: something like "to say of what is
that it is and to say of what is not that it is not." "Correspondence" is the
only coherent reply to the question of the nature of truth. Which is: "What
makes a statement true?" Anything more complex surely is unnecessary.
Cheers, Walter
Memorial U
(most easternly university in N. America. Don't take a wrong turn at the
Education building or you'll find yourself adrift in the cold ocean blue.)
P.S. No, I, like Julie's mother, can't reveal the secret to the holy grail of
German kartoffel salat either. I married into the secret and the blood-line has
been carefully guarded and preserved. The Knights Templar would immediately pay
me a visit were I to reveal the truth here. Not to mention that albino monk.
(Hint: yes, cucumbers are definitely involved, and real bacon, chopped up just
right.)
Quoting Ursula Stange <Ursula@xxxxxxxxxx>:
> I am, at this moment, tarting up a first-year lecture on TRUTH. So,
> someone send the answer...quick.
> Ursula
>
> John Wager wrote:
>
> > I was taught that philosophy classes were supposed to examine and
> > evaluate philosophical arguments. All my classes as an undergrad and
> > in graduate school did that.
> >
> > But when I got to my first year of teaching, many many years ago, I
> > found that students could not grasp the "argument" because they didn't
> > understand or appreciate the statements that made up the argument, and
> > further that they didn't have any appreciation or interest in the
> > concepts that made up the statements.
> >
> > I decided the first thing I should do is try to teach the value of
> > philosophical CONCEPTS, before puting them into an argument. "Arete"
> > ("virtue") is something that one should understand even before
> > evaluating how successful Aristotle is in making an argument about
> > this concept.
> >
> > Ever since, I'd say that over half of my efforts in teaching have been
> > to address the concepts philosophers use, exploring and meditating on
> > them, rather than evaluating arguments containing them. Of course
> > that means my students do not get to "truth" because they don't get to
> > evaluate arguments. I'm a bit uncomfortable because philosophy should
> > be about the "truth" in some sense, and I agree that concepts by
> > themselves cannot be true or false.
> >
> > Am I doing the right thing or not?
> >
> > (This isn't a rhetorical question; I would like to know what you think.)
>
>
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