Nasīr ad-Dīn al-Tūsī’s Theory of Truth; the Analysis

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

In developing a theory of truth, as the main condition of knowledge, four issues are usually examined: definition or analysis of truth, truth bearer, truth-maker, and relation (in correspondence and coherence theories). A proper theory of truth is the one that affords the explanation of the truth of all types of propositions, and, at the same time, resists the liar paradox. The aim of this inquiry is to analyze Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī’s theory of truth one who is involved both in the liar paradox and in the explanation of the truth of the verity propositions and propositions that are made of intelligibles that have no instance in external world. This inquiry shows, with an analytical approach mostly systematic analysis, that he regards, against the difficulty of the lair paradox, propositions that are other than what they are about as the bearers of truth. Further, it shows that he, against the other difficulty, has two attitudes: first, he desists from the correspondence theory of truth and defines it as “ascription of an ideational thing to what, with its characteristic, is proper for it”; second, he considers the agent intellect to be the truth-maker. Although he regards the correspondence relation as an intentional relation, he does not discuss it much. One explanation could be that the issue of the correspondence relation does not play a serious part in the aforementioned difficulties.
 

Keywords

References

1. Ajdukiewicz, Kazimierz, (1357 S.H.), Problems & Theories of Philosophy, trans: Manouchehr Bozorgmehr, Tehran: Aryamehr University of Technology.
2. Arefi, Abbas, (1388 S.H.), The Correspondence between Mental Forms and External World, Tehran: Research Institute for Islamic Culture and Thought [in Persian].
3. Armstrong, D. M. )2008(, Belief, Truth and Knowledge, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4. Asay, Jamin.) 2013(, The Primitivist Theory of Truth. First Published, New York: Cambridge University Press.
5. Clark, Michael. (1963), “Knowledge and Grounds: A Comment on Mr. Gettier’s Paper”, Analysis, Vol. 24, No. 2, Pp. 46-48, Oxford: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Analysis Committee.
6. Faali, Mohammad Taghi, (1378 S.H.), “Conception and Assertion”, Kheradnameh Sadra, Issue 18, pp. 40-57 [in Persian].
7. Farāmarz Qarāmalekī, Ahad, (1390 S.H.), “Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī’s Theory of Justification” in The Study of Khawaja, Tehran: Iranian Book Home [in Arabi].
8. Farāmarz Qarāmalekī, Ahad, (1391 S.H.), Essays on Heritage of Muslim Logicians, Tehran: Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies [in Persian].
9. Farāmarz Qarāmalekī, Ahad and Ebadi, Ahmad, (1389 S.H.), “Historical Development of Triadic Propositions”, Philosophy and Kalam, Volume 43, Issue 1, pp. 69-89 [in Persian].
10. Haack, Susan. (1978), Philosophy of Logics, London: Cambridge University Press.
11. Harawī, Muhammad Zāhid bin Muhammad, (2004), “Sharh al-Risālah al-Ma’mūlah fī al-Tasawwur wa al-Tasdīq wa Ta’līqātuh” in Risālatān fī al-Tasawwur wa al-Tasdīq wa Yalīhā Sharh al-Risālah al-Ma’mūlah fī al-Tasawwur wa al-Tasdīq wa Ta’līqatuh, ed. Mahdī Sharī’atī, Beirut: Dar al-Kotob al-ilmiyah.
12. Hillī, Hasan bin Yūsuf, (1415 A.H.), Kashf al-Murād fī Sharh Tajrīd al-I’tiqad, Qom: Islamic Publication Institute [in Arabi].
13. Kashfi, Abdorrasool, (1385 S.H.), “Classification of Epistemological Justification Theories”, Nameh Hikmah, Volume 4, Issue 2, pp. 65-87 [in Persian].
14. Kīshī, Shams al-Dīn, (1393 S.H.), “Rauzah al-Nazir fī Sharh Nafs al-‘amr” in Khawaja Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī’s Risālah Īthbāt al-‘awl al-Mujarrad and Its Commentaries, ed. Tayebeh Arefnia and Ahad Farāmarz Qarāmalekī, Tehran: Mirasmaktoob [in Arabi].
15. Lynch, Michael P. (2001), The Nature of Truth, Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
16. Motavalli, Morteza and Azimi, Mahdi, (1399 S.H.), “Proposition’s Being Truth-Bearers and Impossibility of Pointing out to an Inexistent: Solution of the Lair Paradox”, Philosophy, Volume 48, Issue 1, pp. 189-205 [in Persian].
17. Mousavi, Seyyedeh Zahra, (1383 S.H.), “Theories of Truth (Part2)”, Avicennian Philosophy, Issues 24 & 25, pp. 109-121 [in Persian].
18. Mulla Sadra, Sadr al-Din Muhammed Shirazi, (1389 S.H.), Tafsir al-Qur’an al-Karim Volume3, ed. Mohsen Bidarfar, Tehran: SIPRIn Publications [in Arabi].
19. Nozick, Robert. (1981), Philosophical Explanations, Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
20. Pleitz, Martin. (2018), Logic, Language, and the Liar Paradox, Münster: mentis Verlag GmbH.
21. Rāzī, Fakhr al-Dīn, (1381 S.H.), Mantiq al-Molakhas, ed. Ahad Farāmarz Qarāmalekī and Ādīneh Asgharī Nezhād, Tehran: Imam Sadiq University [in Arabi].
22. Rāzī, Fakhr al-Dīn, (1384 S.H.), Sharh al-Īshārāt wa al-Tanbīhāt, ed. Alīrezā Najafzādeh, Tehran: Society for the National Heritage of Iran [in Arabi].
23. Rojszczak, Artur. (2005), From the Act of Judging to the Sentence, Netherland: Springer.
24. Sharīfī, Ahmad Hosseyn, (1387 S.H.), Me'yar-e Sobouti Sedeghe Ghazaya, Qom: Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute [in Persian].
25. Shīrāzī, Qutb al-Dīn, (1383 S.H.), Sharh-e Hekmat al- Eshragh Souhravardi, ed. A. Nourani and M. Mohaghegh, Tehran: Society for the National Heritage of Iran [in Persian].
26. Tūsī, Nasīr al-Dīn, (1375 S.H.), Sharh al-Īshārāt wa al-Tanbīhāt, Qom: Balāghah Publication [in Arabi].
27. Tūsī, Nasīr al-Dīn, (1393 S.H.), “Risālah Īthbāt al-‘awl al-Mujarrad” in Khawaja Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī’s Risālah Īthbāt al-‘awl al-Mujarrad and Its Commentaries, ed. Tayebeh Arefnia and Ahad Farāmarz Qarāmalekī, Tehran: Mirasmaktoob [in Arabi].
28. Tūsī, Nasīr al-Dīn, (1985), Talkhīs al-Muhassal known as Naqd al-Muhassal, Beirut: Dār al-‘azwa’[in Arabi].
29. Tūsī, Nasīr al-Dīn, (1376 S.H.), ‘asās al-‘iqtibās, ed. Mohammad Taghi Modarres Razavi, Tehran: the University of Tehran [in Arabi].
30. Tūsī, Nasīr al-Dīn, (1383 S.H.), Ajwībah al-Masā’il al-Nasīrīyah, ed. A. Nourani, Tehran: Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies [in Arabi].
31. Tūsī, Nasīr al-Dīn, (1353 S.H.), “Ta’dīl al-Mi’yar Fī Naqd Tanzīl al-‘afkār” in Collected Texts and Papers on Logic and Language, ed. M. Mohaghegh & T. Izutsu, Tehran: the University of Tehran[in Arabi].
32. Young, James O. (2018), “The Coherence Theory of Truth”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL: https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2018/entries/truth-coherence/

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics