Steve said:
I agree that it is indeed the same thing to assert that something is true and
to assert that you are justified in believing that same something--as Pierce
said, "we think each one of our beliefs to be true, and, indeed, it is mere
tautology to say so"--it is nevertheless good to recognize that at least some
of the things that we are justified in believing are probably not actually true.
Matt:
Rorty, for these purposes, liked to distinguish--in good, commonsensical
dictionary fashion--different uses of the word "true." Because, on the one
hand, justification is our only route to truth, so when you feel justified in
believing something, you feel it is true. That was the "endorsing use of
truth" (occasionally called the "complimentary" use which got Rorty into a lot
of trouble). Because, if justification is our only route to truth, then it
does seem an add-on to then say it is justified _and_ true. Call the endorsing
use "the use of truth from the first-person standpoint."
Another use of true, which is what Steve wants to emphasize is different and
needed--we shouldn't assimilate all uses of truth to the endorsing use (like in
our theories of truth)--is the "cautionary use of truth." This is the impetus
of somebody, having heard you slide from justification to a complimentary extra
endorsement of "and it's true, too" to say, "well, you might be justified, but
it still might not be true." Call the cautionary use "the use of truth from
the third-person standpoint."
Distinct from this again is the "disquotational use of truth," which is the
semantic notion, the very boring explanation of the only kind of correspondence
pragmatists think we are going to find between sentences and states of affairs:
"'X' is true iff X." (For example: The sentence "Snow is white" is true if and
only if snow is white.) Explains nothing much, but that's the point. Call the
disquotational use "the use of truth from the God-person standpoint." If you
find God's point of view useful, maybe you can get more out of correspondence
than pragmatists can.
Matt
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