Philosophy of the Human Person Lecture 3

Study Notes

Truth and Opinion

Belief refers to the acceptance of a statement as true or the existence of something.
Proposition is a statement regarding the object of belief, depicting facts or truth conditions in the world.
Structure of belief: Individual S believes that proposition P is true, linking the person with the content of belief.
Example: Sir Delgado believes he is in San Isidro, Nueva Ecija.
Truth is defined as a statement about the actual state of the world.

Theories on the Nature of Truth

Correspondence Theory posits that truth is established through the relationship between propositions and factual entities in the world; a belief is true if it corresponds to a fact.
Coherence Theory suggests that a proposition's truth relies on its coherence with a set of beliefs, meaning it is true if it fits within a larger, consistent system.
Pragmatic Theory indicates that a proposition is true if it proves useful or beneficial to believe in it, emphasizing utility as a key aspect of truth.

Domains of Truth

Objective Domain includes scientific truths that exist independently of human perception.
Social Domain relates to truths based on consensus regarding societal norms of right and wrong.
Personal Domain involves truths connected to sincerity, necessitating actions that build trust.
Truth is often validated through the process of justification, which involves proving the validity of a statement.

Domains of Truth	Corresponding Justification
Objective Domain	Tested against empirical evidence
Social Domain	Tested for acceptability within a specific group or context
Personal Domain	Tested against the consistency and authenticity of the individual

Concepts and Knowledge

Concept is an abstract idea, serving as a foundational element of knowledge.
Terms are the words that encapsulate and express concepts.
Knowledge encompasses three criteria: belief in the statement’s truth, the statement’s actual truth, and justification for the belief.

Stages in the Apprehension of Concepts

Perception occurs in two forms:
- External Perception utilizes the five senses, leading to a percept.
- Internal Perception engages the imagination and memory, resulting in an image.
Abstraction is the intellectual process of identifying universal traits from various particulars observed through perception, leading to the formation of a concept.
Judgment involves making a knowledge claim by combining at least two concepts into a statement that can be shown to be either true or false, ultimately producing a proposition.

Description

In this lecture, we delve into the concepts of truth and opinion, exploring the definition of belief and propositions. Understand the structure of belief and how individuals relate their beliefs to reality, using examples such as Sir Delgado's perception of his location.