Truth, Relativism, and Constructivism
What is truth? The correspondence theory, coherence theory, and pragmatic theory of truth — and why 'everything is relative' is not what serious philosophers mean.
What Makes Something True?
Correspondence theory says a statement is true if it corresponds to reality. 'It is raining' is true if and only if it is actually raining. This is intuitive and works well for simple factual claims, but struggles with more complex statements like 'democracy is the best form of government' — what reality does that correspond to?
Coherence theory says a statement is true if it fits consistently within a system of beliefs. A new scientific finding is accepted when it coheres with established theory and evidence. This captures how knowledge actually works in practice but risks circularity: a system of beliefs could be internally coherent yet entirely disconnected from reality.
Pragmatic theory (William James, John Dewey) says a statement is true if it works — if acting on it produces successful results. A map is 'true' if following it gets you where you want to go. This is practical but controversial: does a useful lie count as truth?