On Truth by Harry Frankfurt

This last week I read Harry Frankfurt’s wonderful little gold book, On Truth, for this semester’s philosophy class, Writing for Publication, in the Denver Seminary MA Philosophy of Religion degree program. The book is short, only 101 pages, but it sure packs a punch.

I thought that I might include a few quotes here to give a feel for the types of issues that Frankfurt is dealing with and the approach that he takes. In this book he presents a compelling argument against the postmodern tendency to deny the reality of objective truth. I would recommend the book to anyone who would like a counterpoint to antirealist and relativistic notions of truth.

On the incoherence of denying the three classic laws of thought as applied to truth both epistemically and metaphysically:

“…even those who profess to deny the validity or the objective reality of the true-false distinction continue to maintain without apparent embaressment that this denial is a position that they do truly endorse. The statement that they reject the distinction between true and false is, they insist, an unqualifiedly true statement about their beliefs, not a false one. This prima facie incoherence in the articulation of their doctrine makes it uncertain precisely how to construe what it is that they propose to deny. It is also enough to make us wonder just how seriously we need to take their claim that there is no objectively meaningful or worthwhile distinction to be made between what is true and what is false.” (p. 9)

On the idea that normative (i.e. evaluative) judgements cannot properly be regarded is being either true or false:

“…societies cannot afford to tolerate anyone or anything that fosters a slovenly indifference to the distinction between true and false. Much less can they indulge the shabby, narcissistic pretense that being true to the facts is less important than being “true to oneself.” If there is any attitude that is inherently antithetical to a decent and orderly social life, that is it.” (p. 33)

So is the question of truth as an objective reality something that actually matters?

“Our success or failure in whatever we undertake, and therefore in life altogether, depends on whether we are guided by truth or whether we proceed in ignorance or on the basis of falsehood. It also depends critically, of course, on what we do with the truth. Without truth, however, we are out of luck before we even start…

We really cannot live without truth. We need truth not only in order to understand how to live well, but in order to know how to survive at all… truth is not a feature of belief to which we can permit ourselves to be indifferent. Indifference would be a matter not just of negligent imprudence. It would quickly prove fatal.” (pp. 36-7)

Frankfurt spends a whole chapter discussing some of Spinoza’s insights on truth and joy, and ends the chapter with this thought:

“Practically all of us do love truth, whether or not we are aware that we do so. And, to the extent that we recognize what dealing effectively with the problems of life entails, we cannot help loving truth.” (pp. 47-8)

So why do truths possess instrumental value (i.e. are useful in a pragmatic fashion for getting by in the world)?

“Insofar as truths possess instrumental value, they do so because they capture and convey the nature of these realities. Truths have practical utility because they consist of, and because they can therefore provide us with, accurate accounts of the properties (including, especially, the causal powers and potentialities) of the real objects and events with which we must deal when we act.” (p. 52)

On the nature of factuality:

“Now, the relevant facts are what they are regardless of what we may happen to believe about them, and regardless of what we may wish them to be. This is, indeed, the essence and the defining character of factuality, of being real: the properties of reality, and accordingly the truths about its properties, are what they are, independent of any direct or immediate control of our will…

The facts – the true nature of reality – are the final and incontrovertible recourse of inquiry. They dictate and support an ultimately decisive resolution and rebuttal of all uncertainties and doubts.” (pp. 54-55)

And, to end this with an obligatory SG-1 reference…