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3 ideas
| 5420 | Truth is a property of a belief, but dependent on its external relations, not its internal qualities [Russell] |
| Full Idea: Although truth and falsehood are properties of beliefs, they are properties dependent upon the relations of the beliefs to other things, not upon any internal quality of the beliefs. | |
| From: Bertrand Russell (Problems of Philosophy [1912], Ch.12) | |
| A reaction: Beliefs can have an intrinsic property of subjective certainty, but Russell is right that that is not enough. So is truth a property or a relation? |
| 5419 | Truth and falsehood are properties of beliefs and statements [Russell] |
| Full Idea: Truth and falsehood are properties of beliefs and statements, so a world of mere matter would contain no truth or falsehood. | |
| From: Bertrand Russell (Problems of Philosophy [1912], Ch.12) | |
| A reaction: Can it be beliefs AND statements? What about propositions? All that matters here is to establish that truth is a feature of certain mental states. This makes possible my slogan that "the brain is a truth-machine". Out there are the 'facts'. |
| 5417 | A good theory of truth must make falsehood possible [Russell] |
| Full Idea: A good theory of truth must be such as to admit of its opposite, falsehood. | |
| From: Bertrand Russell (Problems of Philosophy [1912], Ch.12) |