Correspondence Theory of Truth
Aristotle famously said, “To say of what is that it is not, or of what is not that it is, is false, while to say of what is that it is, and of what is not that it is not, is true” Thomas Aquinas expands on this, saying, “A judgment is said to be true when it conforms to the external reality”
Truth is “what is”. Truth is based in the reality found in this world. Therefore, it is possible for us to know truth. If we can know truth, what are the characteristics of truth?
What is true now will be true in the future. If something was true in the past, it is true now as well. Someone might say, “People believed the world was flat and today we know the world is round.” Yes, that is true but the world was always round. Those who said it was flat were wrong.
Truth is also true across all cultures as well as all times. 2+2= 4 is true not just in the Sudan but also in America.
Truth is narrow. 2+2=4, not 3 and not 5. Likewise, I am here, not there. In its narrowness it excludes falsehood. We accept this on a daily basis when we do business, see a physician, or get on an airplane. Money, medicine and engineering are very specific, very narrow. People sometimes become indignant when we make truth claims because they exclude potential truths. Absolute truth is just too narrow we are told. However, those who would make a claim for pluralism or relativism have also made a narrow claim because all other options are excluded. All truth claims are by nature narrow.
We may not ever understand some things fully but our inability to understand them fully does not mean that they are not true. Absolute truth is true for all people, in all places and at all times.
When examined relative truths dissolve. For instance, the claim that it is colder at the North Pole than in Melbourne might appear to be a relative statement but on examination we realize that it is true everywhere, that today, it is cooler at the north pole than in Melbourne. That truth is true for everyone, everywhere.
Relative truths run into trouble because they lead to contradiction. To begin with, if relativism was true it would be an absolute truth. Further, if we are discussing a fact, and my truth contradicts your truth, only one of those truths will match reality. That will not work. If relativism were true, we would never be wrong, our truth would always be true. However, we could never learn because real learning involves moving from not knowing to knowing.
Finally, regarding truth, it is essential that we understand this law of logic: The opposite of true is false. This is the law of non-contradiction. Opposite ideas cannot both be true at the same time and in the same sense. This has great consequence in our search for truth. If two belief systems believe opposite things, it is possible they could both be wrong, or it is possible that one could be right. What is impossible is that both of them could be right.