Alethiology (or alethology, "the study of
aletheia
''Aletheia'' or Alethia (; ) is truth or disclosure in philosophy. Originating in Ancient Greek philosophy, the term was explicitly used for the first time in the history of philosophy by Parmenides in his poem ''Parmenides#On Nature, On Nature ...
") literally means the ''study of
truth
Truth or verity is the Property (philosophy), property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth, 2005 In everyday language, it is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise cor ...
'', but can more accurately be translated as ''the study of the nature of truth''.
History
It could be argued that ''alethiology'' is synonymous with ''
epistemology
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowle ...
'', the study of knowledge, and that dividing the two is mere
semantics
Semantics is the study of linguistic Meaning (philosophy), meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction betwee ...
, but sometimes a distinction is made between the two. Epistemology is the study of knowledge and its acquisition. Alethiology is specifically concerned with the ''nature'' of truth, which is only one of the areas studied by epistemologists.
The term ''alethiology'' is rare. The ten-volume ''
Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' mentions it only once, in the article "Lambert, Johann Heinrich (1728–77)":
The
Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition
The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is a 29-volume reference work, an edition of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. It was developed during the encyclopaedia's transition from a British to an American publication. So ...
describes the discipline as "…an uncommon expression for the doctrine of truth, used by
Sir William Hamilton in his philosophic writings when treating of the rules for the discrimination of truth and error."
The term appears in
Karen L. Carr's ''The Banalization of Nihilism'' (pp. 17–18) in contrast to several other types of nihilism, especially
epistemological nihilism. The views of several philosophers are then distinguished by reference to 'alethiological nihilism', 'epistemological nihilism' and the like.
See also
*
Criteria of truth
In epistemology, criteria of truth (or tests of truth) are standards and rules used to judge the accuracy of statements and claims. They are tools of verification, and as in the problem of the criterion, the reliability of these tools is dispute ...
*
Theories of truth
Citations
Epistemology
Truth
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