Kant on the Nominal Definition of Truth
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Alberto Vanzo
Abstract
Kant claims that the nominal definition of truth is: “Truth is the agreement of cognition with its object”. In this paper, I analyse the relevant features of Kant's theory of definition in order to explain the meaning of that claim and its consequences for the vexed question of whether Kant endorses or rejects a correspondence theory of truth. I conclude that Kant's claim implies neither that he holds, nor that he rejects, a correspondence theory of truth. Kant's claim is not a generic way of setting aside a correspondence definition of truth, or of considering it uninformative. Being the nominal definition of truth, the formula “truth is the agreement of cognition with its object” illustrates the meaning of the predicate “is true” and people's ordinary conception of truth. True judgements correspond to the objects they are about. However, there could be more to the property of truth than correspondence.
© Walter de Gruyter 2010
Articles in the same Issue
- Kant on the Nominal Definition of Truth
- Le Je pense comme facteur de vérité: adéquation, cohérence et communauté sémantique
- Die Höllenfahrt der Selbsterkenntnis und der Weg zur Vergötterung bei Hamann und Kant
- „A Good, Honest Watchmaker“: J. C. F. Schulz's Portrait of Kant from 1791
- Three Problems in Westphal's Transcendental Proof of Realism
- Zwei Konjekturvorschläge zur Tugendlehre, § 9
- Buchbesprechungen
- Mitgliederversammlung der Kant-Gesellschaft
Articles in the same Issue
- Kant on the Nominal Definition of Truth
- Le Je pense comme facteur de vérité: adéquation, cohérence et communauté sémantique
- Die Höllenfahrt der Selbsterkenntnis und der Weg zur Vergötterung bei Hamann und Kant
- „A Good, Honest Watchmaker“: J. C. F. Schulz's Portrait of Kant from 1791
- Three Problems in Westphal's Transcendental Proof of Realism
- Zwei Konjekturvorschläge zur Tugendlehre, § 9
- Buchbesprechungen
- Mitgliederversammlung der Kant-Gesellschaft
