Truth: Encyclopedia II - Truth - Bearers of truth

Truth - Bearers of truth

Philosophers call any entity that can be true or false a "truth bearer." Propositions, sentences, statements, ideas, beliefs, and judgements are said to be truth bearers. Thus, a truth bearer, in the philosophical sense, is not a person or god.

Some philosophers exclude one or more of these categories, or argue that some of them are true (or false) only in a derivative sense. These claims are made on the basis of theories about truth such as those discussed below.

For example, propositions are often thought to be the only things that are literally true. A proposition is the abstract entity which is expressed by a sentence, held in a belief, affirmed in a statement or judgement. All these parts of language are called true only if they express, hold, or affirm true propositions. So plausibly sentences of different languages, such as the (English) The sky is blue and the (German) Der Himmel ist blau express the same proposition.

On the other hand, many philosophers have claimed that propositions and similar abstract entities are mysterious and provide little explanation; surely sentences, or even utterances of sentences, are a more clear-cut and fundamental truth bearer.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Bearers of truth", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki