Truth in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy

Description du projet

Premier examen systématique des conceptions philosophiques de la vérité

La concept de vérité occupe une place nodale dans la science, l’éthique et notre vie quotidienne. Le projet TAMP, financé par l’UE, étudiera les origines, les motivations et les défis auxquels sont confrontées les conceptions de la vérité dans la philosophie antique et médiévale ainsi que la manière dont ces défis ont abouti à l’élaboration de nouvelles théories de la vérité. Les travaux du projet génèreront des connaissances approfondies sur une période riche mais souvent éclipsée de la philosophie, et permettront de mieux appréhender ce concept dans les traditions grecque, arabe et latine.

Objectif

While it is sometimes suggested that we are living in a 'post-truth' age wherein the concept of truth is increasingly less relevant, truth nonetheless remains a central concept in science, ethics, and ordinary life. However, what precisely is truth? One common view, the so-called 'correspondence theory of truth', maintains that truth is simply correspondence with the facts. However, such a view faces a number of difficulties and potential objections. For instance, what exactly is correspondence? And what exactly are facts? Moreover, if truth is simply correspondence then why it is the case that correspondence comes in degrees whereas truth is usually agreed not to? And how should we deal with certain semantic paradoxes, such as liar paradoxes, which suggest that our conceptions of truth are internally inconsistent?
The notion that truth consists in correspondence goes back to antiquity and the Middle Ages. However, although past philosophers discussed the nature of truth in significant detail and with considerable philosophical sophistication, our understanding of past theories of truth is surprisingly limited and we lack a clear idea of how notions of truth developed in later antiquity or in the Arabic and Latin medieval traditions. This project will offer the first focused and systematic examination of philosophical conceptions of truth in ancient and medieval philosophy. It will examine the origins, motivations, and challenges faced by conceptions of truth in this period and how these challenges led to the development of alternative theories of truth. By holistically examining both 'major' and 'minor' figures and texts in this period and combining metaphysical approaches to truth with logical and semantic approaches, this project will offer us a better understanding of a central philosophical issue across the Greek, Arabic, and Latin traditions and greater insight into an extremely rich but often neglected period of philosophy.