Theory and History of Ontology (www.ontology.co)by Raul Corazzon | e-mail: rc@ontology.co

History of Truth. Selected bibliography on Ancient Primary Authors

Contents of this Section

History of Truth in Western Philosophy

This part of the section History of Truth in Western Philosophy includes the following pages:

History of Truth in Ancient Greece

Aletheia in the Ancient Greek Thought. General Introduction

Pre-Philosophical Concepts of Truth

Selected bibliography on the Concept of Truth in Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy

Selected bibliography on Ancient Greek Authors from Homer to the Hellenistic Period (Current page)

Aletheia dans la Pensée Grecque d'Homère à l'Âge Hellenistique

Pages under construction:

Parmenides

Sophists

Plato's Doctrine of Truth

Aristotle's Definition of Truth

Epicureanism

Stoicism

Skepticism

Neoplatonism

Homer

  1. Accame, Silvio. 1963. "L'invocazione Alla Musa E La Verità in Omero E in Esiodo (Prima Parte)." Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica no. 41:257-281.

  2. ———. 1963. "L'invocazione Alla Musa E La Verità in Omero E in Esiodo (Seconda Parte)." Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica no. 41:385-415.

  3. Adkins, Arthur W.H. 1972. "Truth, Kosmos, and Arete in the Homeric Poems." Classical Quarterly no. 22:5-18.

  4. Levet, Jean-Pierre. 1976. Le Vrai Et Le Faux Dans La Pensée Grecque Archaique. Étude De Vocabulaire. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.

    Tome I. Présentation générale. Le vrai et le faux dans les épopées homériques.

    Avant-Propos: "Ce livre est la première partie d'une thèse de doctorat d'État qui a été soutenue le 11 mai 1974 en Sorbonne".

    "A la description de l'état homérique de la langue et de la pensée succédera, dans une seconde partie, une étude du vocabulaire historique. Cet examen accompli, il restera à depeindre l'évolution de chaque élément lexical jusqu'à la fin du Ve siècle, à travers le Hymnes Homériques, la poésie lyrique et élégiaque, les œuvres des poètes tragiques et comiques anciens, les écrits d'Hérodote, de Thucydide et d'Antyphon, les fragments des Présocratiques et les passages du Corpus Hippocratiique que l'on peut dater du Ve siècle. On composera enfin une dernière synthèse résumant l'ensemble de l'évolution constatée et présentant l'état de langue et de pensée dont hérite le IVe siècle." (p. 5, note omise).

  5. Nagy, Gregory. 1996. Homeric Questions. Austin: University of Texas Press.

    See Chapter 4: Myth as exemplum in Homer - particularly pp. 122-128.

  6. Prier, Raymond Adolph. 1997. "Achilles Rheter? Homer and Proto-Rhetorical Truth." In The Rhetoric Canon, edited by Schildgen, Brenda Deen, 63-81. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.

  7. Pucci, Pietro. 1987. Odysseus Polutropos. Intertextual Readings in the Odyssey and the Iliad. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    See Chapter I.8 Disguising truth: fiction pp. 83-109

  8. Puelma, Mario. 1989. "Der Dichter Und Die Wahrheit in Der Griechischen Poetik Von Homer Bis Aristoteles." Museum Helveticum no. 46:65-100.

  9. Riezler, Kurt. 1943. "Homer's Contribution to the Meaning of Truth." Philosophy and Phenomenological Research no. 3:326-337.

Hesiod

  1. Arrighetti, Graziano. 1992. "Esiodo E Le Muse: Il Dono Della Verità E La Conquista Della Parola." Athenaeum no. 80:45-63.

  2. ———. 1996. "Hésiode Et Les Muses. Le Don De La Vérité Et La Conquête De La Parole." In Le Métier Du Mythe. Lectures D'Hésiode, edited by Blaise, Fabienne, Judet de la Combe, Pierre and Rousseau, Philippe, 53-70. Villeneuve-d'Ascq: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion.

  3. Buongiovanni, Angelo. 1987. "La Verità E Il Suo Doppio (Hes. Theog. 27-28)." In Interpretazioni Antiche E Moderne Di Testi Greci, 9-24. Pisa: Giardini editore.

    Ricerche di filologia classica. Vol. III.

  4. Daix, David-Artur. 2006. "Réalités Et Vérités Dans La Théogonie Et Les Travaux Et Les Jours D'Hésiode." Métis.Anthropologie des Mondes Grecs Anciens no. 4:139-164.

    "Et d'abord quelle est cette vérité que nous chante Hésiode ? Nous pourrions répondre qu'il s'agit à l'évidence d'une vérité "poétique", autrement dit d'une vérité qui s'exprime au sein d'une composition littéraire -- étant entendu que la nature orale de cette composition ne nuit en rien à son caractère littéraire --, d'un ensemble de récits auxquels nous donnons souvent le nom de "mythes", où l'imagination et la fiction tiennent une place prépondérante. Toutefois, cette réponse fait surtout ressortir l'écart entre la conception que pouvaient avoir Homère ou Hésiode d'un discours véridique et celle que développera un philosophe comme Platon ou, dans un autre registre, un historien comme Thucydide, qui l'un comme l'autre se méfient hautement des artifices poétiques, au point de souhaiter les censurer, voire les expurger. Mais elle ne nous apprend en rien ce qu'Hésiode lui-même entend par "vérité". p. 140

    (...)

    "Conclusion.

    Ni le mythe de Prométhée et de Pandora - qui, tel qu'il apparaît dans la Théogonie précisément, servirait à merveille le projet des Travaux et les Jours - - ni l'Éris iliadique n'ont perdu leur sens quand ils apparaissent au milieu des "réalités" qu'Hésiode rappelle à Persès. Mais ils sont en décalage par rapport à la perspective qu'adopte le poète et au monde qu'il veut célébrer.

    Hésiode redéfinit les notions de lutte et d'exploit, de querelle et d'envie. Et, de même, il modifie l'équilibre entre les récits sur lesquels s'appuie sa démonstration. Il n'échappe pas pour autant au poids de la tradition, mais il assure la pertinence de son chant et se montre ainsi fidèle à ses patronnes, les Muses, "les filles à la langue habile du puissant Zeus" (29), dont les paroles sont toujours ajustées à leur propos, et au pouvoir dont elles l'ont investi.

    La vérité est au coeur des préoccupations d'Hésiode. Toujours ses compositions prétendent la dire. Reste que cette vérité même pose problème, tant il est vrai qu'elle offre, paradoxalement, elle aussi, deux visages, selon qu'elle habite le temps des dieux ou celui des hommes."

  5. Ferrari, Giovanni. 1988. "Hesiod's Mimetic Muses and the Strategies of Deconstruction." In Post-Structuralist Classics, edited by Benjamin, Andrew E., 45-78. New York: Routledge.

    "This essay has a narrow focus but a large penumbra. My focus is a current interpretation of the couplet spoken by the Muses in the prologue to Hesiod's Theogony, an interpretation avowedly influenced by the work of Jacques Derrida. I think it not just mistaken, but mistaken in an exemplary fashion. That is, in considering how it goes wrong I hope to reveal something more general about the impact of Derrida's work, actual and potential, bad and good, on classical studies. (This will eventually involve me in a quite detailed analysis of an exemplary piece by Derrida himself.) (1) In addition, I will offer the beginnings of an account of a significant and general pattern of archaic Greek thought evinced by Hesiod's couplet (one which has particular importance for the later development of Greek philosophy); a pattern which, I argue, is obscured by a certain pervasive anachronism that classicists engaged by Derrida have imported from his work."

    (1) "Signature, événement, contexte" and its companion piece "Limited, inc. a b c..." which I come to in the fourth section [both essay reprinted in: J. Derrida - Limited Inc. - Evanston, Northwestern University Press, 1988]

  6. Heiden, Bruce A. 2007. "The Muses' Uncanny Lies: Hesiod, Theogony 27 and Its Translators." American Journal of Philology no. 128:153-175.

  7. Judet de la Combe, Pierre. 1993. "L'autobiographie Comme Mode D'universalisation. Hésiode Et Hélicon." In La Componente Autobiografica Nella Poesia Greca E Latina Fra Realtà E Artificio Letterario, edited by Arrighetti, Graziano and Montanari, Franco, 25-39. Pisa: Giardini.

  8. Leclerc, Marie-Christine. 1993. La Parole Chez Hésiode. À La Recherche De L'harmonie Perdue. Paris: Belles Lettres.

  9. Nagy, Gregory. 1992. "Authorisation and Authorship in the Hesiodic Theogony." Ramus no. 21:119-130.

    "Strict attention to poetic truth, aletheia, as the 'recovered essence of being' and to the sharp contrast between muthos and epos (especially in diachronic perspective) reveals a pan-Hellenism in Hesiod's Theogony that confers authority on the poem and authorship on the poet."

  10. ———. 1996. "Autorité Et Auteur Dans La Théogonie Hésiodique." In Le Métier Du Mythe. Lectures D'Hésiode, edited by Blaise, Fabienne, Judet de la Combe, Pierre and Rousseau, Philippe, 41-52. Villeneuve-d'Ascq: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion.

  11. Neitzel, Heinz. 1980. "Hesiod Und Die Lügenden Musen. Zur Interpretation Von Theogonie 27f." Hermes no. 108:387-401.

  12. Otto, Walter F. 1952. "Hesiodea." In Varia Variorum. Festgabe Für Karl Reinhardt Dargebracht Von Freunden Und Schülern Zum 14. Februar 1951, 49-57. Münster: Böhlau.

  13. Pretagostini, Roberto. 1995. "L'incontro Con Le Muse Sull'elicona in Esiodo E in Callimaco: Modificazioni Di Un Modello." Lexis no. 13:157-172.

    Ristampato in. R. Pretagostini - Ricerche sulla poesia alessandrina II. Forme allusive e contenuti nuovi - Roma, Edizioni Quasar, 2007

  14. Pucci, Pietro. 1976. Hesiod and the Language of Poetry. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    See Chapter I: The true and false discourse in Hesiod - pp. 8-44

  15. Rudhardt, Jean. 1996. "Le Préambule De La Théogonie. La Vocation Du Poète. Le Langage Des Muses." In Le Métier Du Mythe. Lectures D'Hésiode, edited by Blaise, Fabienne, Judet de la Combe, Pierre and Rousseau, Philippe, 25-39. Villeneuve-d'Ascq: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion.

  16. Strauss, Clay Jenny. 2003. Hesiod's Cosmos. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    See pp. 58-64 on Theogony, 27-28.

  17. Stroh, Wilfried. 1976. "Hesiods Lügende Musen." In Studien Zum Antiken Epos, edited by Görgemanns, Herwig and Schmidt, Ernst A., 85-112. Meisenheim am Glan: Anton Hain.

  18. Svenbro, Jesper. 1976. "La Parole Et Le Marbre. Aux Origines De La Poétique Grecque." In. Lund: Studentlitteratur.

    Chapitre 1.2 Hésiode: la vérité comme relation sociale pp. 46-73.

    "Au VIIe Chant [de l ' Odyssée], Alcinoos donne un banquet en l'honneur d'Ulysse. "Laissez-moi manger dans ma détresse, dit Ulysse, car il n'y a rien de plus chien que le ventre odieux (ou gar ti stugeréi epl gastéri kúnteron allo épleto)" ; sans nourriture, Ulysse ne pourrait raconter ses aventures car, dit-il, son ventre lui "commande de manger et de boire" et lui "fait oublier" (ek... léthanei) ce qu'il a éprouvé. Or, la signification de la notion archaique d'alétheia, étudiée entre autres par Detienne, nous permet de faire l'observation suivante: loin de correspondre à notre conception de "vérité", 1'alétheia archeíque tend à garder son sens "étymologique" et signifie le "non-oubli" (a-létheia), de sorte qu'on pourrait dire d'Ulysse qu'il ne saurait dire l'a-létheia qu'à condition de recevoir à manger. C'est aussi le cas des trois Vierges dans l'Hymne homérique à Hermès qui après avoir mangé du miel blond disent volontiers la vérité (alétheién agoreúein)" tandis qu'elles "deviennent menteuses (pseúdontai)" aussitôt qu'elles en sont privées. (*)" p. 54

    (*) Hymnes homériques IV.560-3.

  19. Wismann, Heinz. 1996. "Propositions Pour Une Lecture D'Hésiode." In Le Métier Du Mythe. Lectures D'Hésiode, edited by Blaise, Fabienne, Judet de la Combe, Pierre and Rousseau, Philippe, 15-22. Villeneuve-d'Ascq: Presses Universitaires du Septentrion.

Pindar

  1. Hubbard, Thomas K. 1985. The Pindaric Mind. A Study of Logical Structure in Early Greek Poetry. Leiden: Brill.

    See Chapter II.3 Alathea / Pseudos pp. 100-106.

  2. Komornicka, Anna Maria. 1972. "Quelques Rémarques Sur La Notion D' Alétheia Et De Pseudos Chez Pindare." Eos.Commentarii Societatis Philologa Polonorum no. 60:235-253.

  3. ———. 1979. Studia Nad Pindarem I Archaiczna Liryka Grecka W Kregu Pojec Prawdy I Falszu. Lodz: Uniwersytet Lodzki.

    In Polish: Studies on Pindar and Archaic Greek lyric. Terms denoting true and false (with a French summary, pp. 252-272).

  4. ———. 1981. "Termes Déterminant Le Vrai Et Le Faux Chez Pindare." In Aischylos Und Pindar. Studien Zu Werk Und Nachwirkung, edited by Schmidt, Ernst Günther, 81-89. Berlin: Akademie Verlag.

    "L'analyse de ces deux notions (le Vrai et le Faux) donne lieu à maintes conclusions. Citons, à titre d'exemple, deux réflexions. Or, contrairement au Faux -- sur le plan moral -- qui est toujours double (diplóos) ou même multiple, bariolé, sinueux, furtif, qui se tapit dans l'obscurité, la Vérité morale, elle, est toujours unique, simple (aletós). Par ailleurs, ce qui m'a frappée au cours de mes recherches, c'est le fait que tandis que la vérité morale en tant que franchise, véracité, loyauté est claire, manifeste, ouverte à tous et dévoilée -- la vérité rationnelle-cognitive, elle, est cachée, difficile à trouver, invisible et insaisissable, résidant dans les profondeurs. Une autre observation -- que je partage avec M. Detienne (*) -- c'est le fait que le domaine du Vrai et du Faux se trouve gouverné -- dans toute la poésie archaïque grecque -- par deux lois fondamentales -- celle de la contradiction et celle de l'ambiguïté -- autrement dit, que ces notions résident dans un couple de contraires antithétiques et complémentaires." pp. 88-89

    (*) M. Detienne, Les maitres de vérité dans la Grèce archaique, Paris, 1967, p. 146.

  5. Nagy, Gregory. 1990. Pindar's Homer. The Lyric Possession of an Epic Past. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    The Mar Flexner Lectures, 1982 Bryn Mawr College.

    On Alétheia see pp. 58-71.

  6. Ortega, Alfonso. 1970. "Poesia Y Verdad En Pindaro." Helmantica no. 21:253-272.

Thucydides

  1. Allison, June. 1997. Word and Concept in Thucydides. Atlanta: Scholars Press.

    On Alethéia see pp. 206-237.

  2. Moles, John L. 1993. "Truth and Untruth in Herodotus and Thucydides." In Lies and Fiction in the Ancient World, edited by Gill, Christopher and Wiseman, Timothy Peter, 122-146. Exeter: University of Exter Press.

    "In this discussion, I want to mediate between `literary' and 'historical' approaches to the question, primarily through a close reading of the prefaces of Herodotus and Thucydides (presented in my own very literal, and sometimes controversial, translations). What emerges, I think, from the content and form of these programmatic statements is the way in which 'literary' and 'historical' objectives are alike present and deeply interfused.

    On the one hand, both writers see themselves as inheritors of the tradition of epic narrative, especially as expressed in Homer's commemoration of a great war in the Iliad. Both writers also see themselves as developing the project built into Homer's poem (a project itself not without a certain `historical' concern), namely that of analysing the causation and process of war and conflict, and of doing so by the invention of significant speeches and by the selection and presentation of concrete events. On the other hand, both writers also see themselves as engaged in a project which is distinctive from that of the poetic tradition in its attempt to establish factual truth and to distinguish this from factual 'untruth' or 'falsehood'.

    Thucydides is more explicit about the nature and methodology of this project than Herodotus, and also about the kind of history (that is, primarily, recent history) in which this project can be pursued effectively. Indeed, in this respect especially, he presents himself as a critic, and rival, of Herodotus as well as a successor. But, in the prefaces of both historians, as in their full-scale narratives, we can recognize the combination of objectives (the perpetuation of epic narrative and interpretation and the innovative search for factual truth) that makes it so difficult to characterize their writings either in terms of 'literature' or 'history'. This combination also makes it difficult to characterize their work in terms of 'truth', 'falsehood' or 'fiction', though if we examine their own descriptions of their project, we have a better chance of seeing how these concepts match with theirs."

  3. Romilly, Jacqueline de. 1990. La Construction De La Vérité Chez Thucydide. Paris: Juillard.

Heraclitus

Texts

Studies

  1. O'Meara, Dominic. 2004. ""Dire Le Vrai" Chez Héraclite." In La Verité. Antiquité - Modernité, edited by Aenishanslin, Jean-François, O'Meara, Dominic and Schüssler, Ingeborg, 11-17. Lausanne: Payot.

Parmenides

Texts

Studies

  1. Constantineau, Philippe. 1987. "La Question De La Vérité Chez Parménide." Phoenix.Journal of the Classical Association of Canada no. 41:217-240.

    "This article proposes a new interpretation of Fragment 2 based on a reading of verses 3 and 5 as questions rather than as assertions, a reading which is supported by references to similar Homeric formulae. It is argued that this reading solves all the problems that have plagued all previous interpretations of this fragment. It also sheds new light on the starting point of Parmenides' ontology as set against the background of the traditions of epic poetry and of Ionian cosmology."

  2. Germani, Gloria. 1988. "Aletheie in Parmenide." La Parola del Passato no. 43:177-206.

  3. Mourelatos, Alexander. 1970. The Route of Parmenides. A Study of Word, Image and Argument in the Fragments. New Haven: New Haven University Press.

    New, revised edition including a new introduction, three additional Essays and a previously unpublished paper by Gregory Vlastos Names of Being in Parmenides - Las Vegas, Parmenides Publishing, 2008.

  4. Papadis, Dimitris. 2005. "The Concept of Truth in Parmenides." Revue de Philosophie Ancienne no. 23:77-96.

    "Studies Parmenides' tripartite cognitive scheme: a) doxa, true or false, b) ta dokounta = true doxai, primarily of universal reference, and c) aletheia. Doxa and ta dokounta refer to the perceptible aspect of the world, whereas aletheia refers to the inner Being of the world. Although in the Poem access to the truth is reserved to Parmenides, it is understood that such access is also possible for everyone possessed of exceptional spirituality."

Sophists

Texts

Studies

  1. Classen, Carl Joachim. 1989. "Protagoras' Aletheia." In The Criterion of Truth, edited by Huby, Pamela and Neal, Gordon, 13-38. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.

  2. Huby, Pamela, and Neal, Gordon, eds. 1989. The Criterion of Truth. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.

    Essays written in honour of George Kerferd together with a text and translation (with annotations) of Ptolemy's On the Kriterion and Hegemonikon.

Plato's Doctrine of Truth

Texts

Studies

  1. Belfiore, Elizabeth. 1985. ""Lies Unlike the Truth": Plato on Hesiod, Theogony, 27." Transactions of the American Philological Association no. 115:47-57.

    Plato's text is: Republic 2, 376-383.

  2. Benardete, Seth. 1963. "The Right, the True and the Beautiful." Glotta no. 41:54-62.

  3. Bury, Robert Gregg. 1973. The Philebus of Plato. New York: Arno Press.

    Edited with introduction, notes and appendices (first edition 1897).

    See Appendix F (on aletheia) pp. 201-211.

  4. Casertano, Giovanni. 2007. Paradigmi Della Verità in Platone. Roma: Editori Riuniti.

  5. Des Places, Édouard. 1961. "La Langue Philosophique De Platon: Le Vocabulare De L'accès Au Savoir Et De La Science." Syculorum Gymnasium no. 16:71-83.

    Repris dans: É. Des Places - Études plationiciennes 1929-1979 - Leiden, Brill, 1981 pp. 36-48 (sur alétheia pp. 44-46).

  6. Fiorentino, Fernando. 2002. "Il Problema Della Verità in Platone." Sapienza no. 55:3-38.

  7. Frede, Michael. 1992. "Plato's Sophist on False Statements." In The Cambridge Companion to Plato, edited by Kraut, Richard, 397-424. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  8. Gill, Christopher. 1993. "Plato on Falsehood - Not Fiction." In Lies and Fiction in the Ancient World, edited by Gill, Christopher and Wiseman, Timothy Peter, 88-121. Exeter: University of Exter Press.

    "I begin by drawing three types of distinction between kinds of discourse. The first relates to the speaker's intended form of communication with a listener. This distinction involves two aspects: that between factual and fictional discourse, and that between forms of factual discourse. Factual discourse is intended either to convey to the listener what the speaker takes to be true (`veracious'), or to convey what the speaker takes to be false (`lying'). Fictional discourse is different in kind from factual: its statements (and other forms of expression) do not constitute truth- telling or lying, and in this sense fiction has no truth-status.

    The second type of distinction differs from the first in that it characterizes discourse by reference to whether it is in fact true or false rather than whether the speaker intends to convey what he or she takes to be true or false.

    The third type of distinction relates to the mode of expression. I have in mind such distinctions as that between analytic discourse and non-analytic (representative or narrative); between prosaic discourse (historical, philosophical) and poetic (epic, dramatic, lyric); between literal discourse and figurative (imagistic, musical); and between general and specific discourse. This type of distinction differs from the first two in several ways, notably in not designating truth-status in either of the senses involved in those distinctions. But I include this distinction here because the question of the truth-status of a given discourse is often connected closely with that of the mode of expression involved. Thus, for example, a given statement may be false (in intention or fact) on the literal level but true (in intention or fact) on the figurative level; or it may be false in a specific case but true in general. This is only the most obvious way in which the distinctions drawn in the first two types may be connected with those in the third type.

    My claim is that these distinctions, while broadly intelligible to modern readers, do not correspond in one crucial respect to the conceptual framework presupposed by Plato. The distinction between factual and fictional discourse, which is familiar to us, has no obvious equivalent in Plato's framework." pp. 39-40

  9. Guillamaud, Patrice. 1987. "La Doctrine De La Vérité Dans Le Cratyle De Platon." Revue de l'Enseignement Philosophique no. 38:1-9.

  10. Hestir, Blake E. 2000. "A Conception of Truth in Republic V." History of Philosophy Quarterly no. 17:311-332.

    "Plato sometimes refers to truth (aletheia) as an object. The thesis of this paper is that Plato's "object" truth is being, an object of knowledge. I provide an examination of the difficult stretch of text at "Republic" V 476e-480a, where Plato argues for the separation of knowledge, belief, and ignorance with respect to their objects. Plato claims that knowledge is "set over" being, by which he means forms. Since philosophers are lovers of the sight of truth and Plato thinks that in one respect forms are truth, it follows that the being knowledge is set over is truth."

  11. ———. 2003. "A Conception of Truth in Plato's Sophist." Journal of The History of Philosophy no. 41:1-24.

    " Plato's solution to the problem of falsehood carries a notorious reputation which sometimes overshadows a variety of interesting developments in Plato's philosophy. One of the less-noted developments in the Sophist is a nascent conception of truth which casts truth as a particular relation between language and the world. Cornford and others take Plato's account of truth to involve something like correspondence; some find the origin of Aristotle's "correspondence" account of truth in Plato's Sophist. But all this assumes a lot about Plato, much less Aristotle. For one, it assumes that to claim that the statement 'Theaetetus is sitting' is true is to claim that it is true because it corresponds with the fact that Theaetetus is sitting. Other scholars have been reluctant to accept Cornford's view, but few offer any explanation of what sort of account of truth we might ascribe to Plato by the end of the Sophist. Tarski has argued that truth is a simpler notion than that of correspondence. In fact, he claims his own "conception" of truth is similar to the classical conception we find in Aristotle's Metaphysics -- a conception of truth formulated in Greek in much the same way Plato formulates it in the Sophist. Unfortunately, Tarski never sufficiently explains what it is about the classical conception that makes it closer to his own. I argue that Tarski is generally right about the ancient conception of truth, but this is not to claim that Tarski's own conception is in Plato. By interpreting Plato's solution to the paradox of not-being and his solution to the problem of falsehood, I argue that Plato's account of truth implies a simpler notion of truth than correspondence. I outline various types of correspondence theory and show that none of these fits what Plato says about truth, syntax, and meaning in the Sophist."

  12. ———. 2004. "Plato and the Split Personality of Ontological Aletheia." Apeiron no. 37:109-150.

    "I argue that Plato conceives of truth in at least two distinct and fundamentally important ways: (T1) truth is simply that being or substance which he identifies as forms, and (T2) truth is the ontological stability of the forms which is the precondition for the forms being what they are insofar as they are forms and for each form having the particular F-property it has by virtue of itself, and which guarantees that each form will satisfy the Parmenidean requirements for knowledge. Plato's ontological truth has a split personality, the latter of which (T2) I argue has been misunderstood."

  13. Jenks, Rod. 2001. The Contribution of Socratic Method and Plato's Theory of Truth to Plato Scholarship. Levinston: Edwin Mellen Press.

    Contents: 1. The problem of the Socratic method; 2. The Coherence Theory of Truth; 3. The Coherence Theory within the Platonic corpus; 4. Coherence and anamnesis; 5. Socratic ignorance and the Coherence Theory of Truth; 6. The uniqueness of the world; conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

  14. Knight, Thomas. 1993. "The Use of "Alétheia" for the "Truth of Unreason": Plato, the Septuagint, and Philo." American Journal of Philology no. 114:581-609.

    "Orthodoxy about the semantic evolution of Aletheia in the Hellenistic period represents Philo Judaeus and Plutarch as the non-Christian representatives of a line of development beginning in Plato (where Aletheia is said to denote abstract, conceptual Truth, 'die Wahrheit') (1) and ending in the sense of absolute truth, specifically 'the content of Christianity as absolute truth.' (2) The problem of such a stemma is that it fails to stand up to close inspection; the present study considers one of the circumstances under which 'truth' was equated with doctrinal content in the Hellenistic period. (3) Specifically, I undertake to demark the distinction between 'truth' as Philo Judaeus understands it from 'truth' as it is used by the philosophers who are his stylistic and intellectual models; I intend to show that Philo's notion of pure truth is not a natural semantic extension of Platonic (or even contemporary philosophic) usage, but is rather an expression of deeper cultural determinants." p. 581

    (1) Bultmann, 'Alétheia.' The passages he cites here in support of this development (Plut. De Isid et Os. 351c, e, and Hierocles Carm. Aur. 21-23 Mullach) are far too late to represent the direct semantic development of Platonic usage of the term. The same objection holds for Bultmann's citation of Epictit. (Diss. 1.4, 31; 3.24, 40) for the extension of Alétheia into 'the sense of `correct learning.' From these observations he proceeds into his second major heading in the discussion of the Classical and Hellenistic evolution of the word, 'The Usage of Dualism.' In this section he again fails to make the crucial distinction between fourth- and third-century (and later) usage.

    (2) Bauer,Arndt, and Gingrich, Lexicon, s.v. 'Alétheia', cite Plutarch (Is. and Os. 351e) and Philo (Spec. Leg. 4.178, 'the proselyte is a metanastàs eis aletheian') as the non-Christian antecedents for Alétheia denoting 'the content of Christianity as absolute truth.'

  15. Marcos De Pinotti, Graciela. 1987. "La Distinción Platónica Entre Episteme Y Doxa Alethes a La Luz Del Tratamiento Del Error (Teeteto 188 a-C)." Revista de Filosofia no. 2:135-154.

  16. Miller, Mitchell. 2010. "A More "Exact Grasp" of the Soul? Tripartition in the Republic and Dialectic in the Philebus." In Truth. Studies of a Robust Presence, edited by Pritzl, Kurt, 40-101. Washington: Catholic University of America Press.

  17. Rankin, H.D. 1963. "A-Letheia in Plato." Glotta no. 41:51-54.

  18. Szaif, Jan. 1996. Platons Begriff Der Wahrheit. Freiburg / München: Verlag Karl Alber.

    Revised paperback edition 1998.

  19. ———. 2000. "Platon Über Wahrheit Und Kohärenz." Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie no. 82:119-148.

    "This article tries to explain how the concepts of truth and coherence feature in Plato's theory of knowledge. It sets out Plato's concept of coherence (homologia, symphonia) in connection with the methods of his dialectic, gives a critical assessment of the evidence for the foundationalist or intuitionist interpretations of his theory of knowledge, and tries to unearth the presuppositions that allow Plato to combine his specific criterion of coherence with the hard realism of his concept of truth."

  20. ———. 2001. "Sprache, Bedeutung, Wahrheit. Überlegungen Zu Platon Und Seinem Dialog Kratylos." Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Philosophie no. 26:45-60.

  21. ———. 2004. "Die Aletheia in Platons Tugendlehre." In La Verité. Antiquité - Modernité, edited by Aenishanslin, Jean-François, O'Meara, Dominic and Schüssler, Ingeborg, 19-45. Lausanne: Payot.

  22. Wolz, Henry G. 1966. "Plato's Doctrine of Truth: Orthótes or Aletheia?"Philosophy and Phenomenological Research no. 27:157-182.

Aristotle's Definition of Truth

Texts

Studies

  1. Ademollo, Francesco. 2010. "The Principle of Bivalence in De Interpretatione 4." Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy no. 38:97-113.

    "Aristotle's definition of the declarative sentence in De interpretatione 4 appears to conflict with his denial of unrestricted bivalence in chapter 9 of the same treatise. The problem can be solved by interpreting chapter 4 to assign truth-value only to some declarative sentences rather than to all and only declarative sentences."

  2. Ben-Zeev, A. 1984. "Aristotle on Perceptual Truth and Falsity." Apeiron no. 18:118-125.

  3. Berti, Enrico. 1978. "The Intellection of "Indivisibles" According to Aristotle De Anima Iii 6." In Aristotle on Mind and the Senses. Proceedings of the Seventh Symposium Aristotelicum, edited by Lloyd, G.E.R. and Owen, G. E. L., 141-163. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  4. ———. 2000. "I Luoghi Della Verità Secondo Aristotele: Un Confronto Con Heidegger." In I Luoghi Del Comprendere, edited by Melchiorre, Virgilio, 3-27. Milano: Vita e Pensiero.

  5. Brentano, Franz. 1862. Von Der Mannigfachen Bedeutung Des Seienden Nach Aristoteles. Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder.

    New edition edited by Werner Sauer, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2014.

    English translation by Rolf George: On the Several Senses of Being in Aristotle, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975, Chapter III. Being in the Sense of Being True, pp. 15-26.

  6. Brown, Montague. 1993. "Aristotle and Augustine on the Way to Truth: The Essential Agreement and Existential Difference." Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association no. 67:253-267.

  7. Busche, Hubertus. 2002. "Die Interpretierende Kraft Der Aisthesis : Wahrheit Und Irrtum Der Wahrnehmung Bei Aristoteles." In Interpretationen Der Wahrheit, edited by Figal, Günter, 112-142. Tübingen: Attempto.

  8. Caston, Victor. 1998. "Commentary on Pritzl: Aristotle on the Conditions of Thought." Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy no. 14:202-211.

  9. Cosci, Matteo. 2014. Verità E Comparazione in Aristotele. Venezia: Istituto veneto di lettere, scienze e arti.

    "This research aims to study the Aristotelian notion of truth (αλήθεια) in relation to the development of the so called logic of comparison from a historical and philosophical standpoint. The logic of comparison (or comparative logic) is defined as the proportioning way to make comparisons between different terms through major, minor or equal measure (Casari 1984; 1985). The main thesis of this research is that the Aristotelian notion of truth is not a gradable value, i. e. declinable by “more” or “less”, but, because of that, it could be considered as the ultimative reference of validity for comparative logic. This is argued through the analysis of three chosen key-concepts: gradationism, truth and comparison. Firstly, it is shown how some Aristotelian conceptions about “more” or “less” were unduly taken over with ontological (mis)understanding by later metaphisics, up to consider them as logical justification of existence for degrees of being and corresponding truths, despite Aristotle’s thought, from faulty sensibility to a highest level of absolute Truth. Some recent authoritative studies about the subject of the Aristotelian theory of αλήθεια are been considered here and the result is that none of those allows to attribute such a gradable notion to Aristotle. Then it is proposed a critique evaluation about the problem of the origins of the ancient comparative logic, showing that presumed degrees of truth are not detectable at all in the Aristotelian dialectic, but only more or less sound arguments always based on the criterion of bivalence (truth/false) provided by the Principle of Excluded Middle. Finally, the research ends arguing the groundlessness for attributing to Aristotle the idea of an intuitive and pre-predicative truth as different, prior and superior to an alleged predicative truth through the contextual critique of the interpretations of A. Trendelenburg (1846), F. Brentano (1862) and M. Heidegger (1930) and their common Neo-Scholastic background. - From a theoretical point of view, the whole thesis can be read as a critique to the idea of «truer»."

    References:

    Ettore Casari, "Note sulla logica aristotelica della comparazione", Sileno, 10, 1984, pp. 131-146.

    Ettore Casari, "Logica e comparativi", in Corrad Mangione (ed.), Scienza e filosofia. Saggi in onore di Ludovico Geymonat, Milano: Garzanti, 1985, pp. 392-418.

    Adolf Trendelenburg, Geschichte der Kategorienlehre I. Aristotle Kategorienlehre, Berlin: Verlag von G. Bethge, 1846, (reprint: Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1979).

    Franz Brentano, Von der mannigfachen Bedeutung des Seienden nach Aristoteles. Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder Verlag, 1862 (new edition with an introduction by Mauro Antonelli and Werner Sauer, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2014).

    Martin Heidegger, Vom Wesen der menschlichen Freiheit. Einleitung in die Philosophie [lecture course held at Freiburg in the Summer Semester 1930], now in the Gesamtausgabe, XXXI, 1982.

  10. Crivelli, Paolo. 1999. "Aristotle on the Truth of Utterances." Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy no. 17:37-56.

  11. ———. 2004. Aristotle on Truth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Contents: Acknowledgments IX; Notes on the text X; List of abbreviations of titles of Aristotle's works XI; Introduction 1; Part I. Bearers of truth or falsehood 45; 1. States of affairs. thoughts. and sentences 45; 2. Truth conditions for predicative assertions 77; 3. Truth conditions for existential assertions 99; Part II. 'Empty' terms 129; 4. Truth as correspondence129; 5. 'Vacuous' terms and 'empty' terms 152; Par III. Truth and time 183; 6. Truth and change 183; 7. Truth and determinism in De Interpretatione 9 198; Appendix I. Metaph. Theta 10 1051b 1: the text 234; Appendix 2. Metaph. Theta 10 1051b 2-3: the text 238; Appendix 3. Int. 7, 17b 16-18: the text 239; Appendix 4. The two place relations in Aristotle's definition of truth 254; Appendix 5. Aristotle's theory of truth for predicative assertions: formal presentation 258; Appendix 6. The failure of Bivalence for future-tense assertions formal presentation 266; References 284; Index of names 313; Index of subjects 319; Index of passages 321.

    "Tbe study of truth is a central part of the philosophical tradition we have inherited from classical Greece. Aristotle played an important role in developing and sharpening the debate in this area and on many issues that are connected with it. I have two primary goals: to offer a precise reconstruction of all of Aristotle’s most significant views on truth and falsehood and to gain a philosophical understanding of them. In this introduction I first offer an overview of Aristotle’s theory of truth and then discuss the methodology I adopt in pursuing my primary goals.

    I AN OVERVIEW OF ARISTOTLE’S THEORY OF TRUTH

    Why an overview? Aristotle speaks about truth and falsehood in passages from several works, mainly the Categories (chapters 4, 5, 10, and 12), de Interpretatione (chapters 1-9), Sophistici Elenchi (chapter 25), de Anima (chapter 3.6), and the Metaphysics (chapters Γ 7, Δ 7, Δ 29, Ε 4, and Θ 10). Truth and falsehood are not the main topic of these works: their discussions of truth and falsehood are asides. Reconstructing an Aristotelian theory of truth and falsehood on the basis of such asides poses complicated problems of various sorts. To help readers to keep their orientation through the many bifurcations of the arguments addressing these problems, I decided to offer a concise but precise map of the territory — an overview of Aristotle’s theory of truth. References to the passages from Aristotle’s works that substantiate the attribution of a certain view to him, and an examination of the relevant secondary literature, will be found in the chapters that follow this introduction." (p. 1)

  12. Dougherty, M. V. 2004. "Aristotle's Four Truth Values." British Journal for the History of Philosophy no. 12:585-609.

  13. Engmann, Joyce. 1976. "Imagination and Truth in Aristotle." Journal of the History of Philosophy no. 14:259-265.

  14. Ferejohn, Mchael T. 1981. "Aristotle on Necessary Truth and Logical Priority." American Philosophical Quarterly no. 18:285-293.

  15. Fiorentino, Fernando. 2001. "Il Problema Della Verità in Aristotele." Sapienza no. 54:257-302.

  16. Fleischer, Margot. 1984. Wahrheit Und Wahrheitsgrund. Zum Wahrheitsproblem Und Zu Seiner Geschichte. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

    II Kapitel. Aristoteles, pp. 14-28.

  17. Harvey, Peter John. 1978. "Aristotle on Truth and Falsity in De Anima Iii,6." Journal of the History of Philosophy no. 16:219-220.

  18. Hestir, Blake. 2013. "Aristotle’s Conception of Truth: An Alternative View." Journal of the History of Philosophy no. 51:193-222.

  19. Imbert, Claude. 1985. " La Vérité D'aristote Et La Vérité De Tarski." In Histoire Et Structure. A La Mémoire De Victor Goldschmidt edited by Brunschwig, Jacques and Imbert, Claude, 173-193. Paris: Vrin.

  20. Long, Christopher P. 2011. Aristotle on the Nature of Truth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  21. Maslankowski, Willi. 2010. Aristoteles: Von Der Wissenschaft Der Wahrheit. Gedanken Aus Seinen Schriften Bad Honnef: Bock.

  22. Moreau, Joseph. 1961. "Aristote Et La Vérité Antéprédicative." In Aristote Et Les Problèmes De Méthode. Communications Présentées Au Symposium Aristotelicum Tenu À Louvain Du 24 Août Au 1 Septembre 1960, 21-33. Paris: Béatrice Nauwelaerts.

  23. Negro, Giovanni. 1997. "Alcune Note Sul Vero in Aristotele : L'αλήθεια Come Isoformismo Di Essere E Conoscere." Atti dell'Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti no. 155:353-35.

  24. Pearson, Giles. 2005. "Aristotle on Being-as-Truth." Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy no. 28.

  25. Pritzl, Kurt. 1993. " Ways of Truth and Ways of Opinion in Aristotle." Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association no. 67:241-252.

  26. ———. 1998. "Being True in Aristotle's Thinking." Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy no. 14:177-201.

  27. ———. 2010. "Aristotle's Door." In Truth. Studies of a Robust Presence, edited by Pritzl, Kurt, 15-39. Washington: Catholic University of America Press.

  28. Razzino, Giuseppe. 1990. "Essere E Verità in Aristotele. Una Rilettura Di E, 4 E Theta, 10 Della Metafisica." Filosofia e Teologia no. 4:84-97.

    "The problem of the relation between the determinations of the concept of truth in the chapters E, 4 and Theta, 10 of Metaphysics in the modern exegesis has been prevalently framed in the distinction between a logical meaning and an ontological one of truth. In this article it is re-examined with reference to the strict connection between thought and being as a peculiar character of the Aristotelian (and generally Greek) thought of truth. The result is the character of arché and aitia of truth of asuntheton (as it presents itself in the noein) in relation to every determinable truth in the dianoein, and so the character of original foundation of the eidos, as it shows itself to the thought in the simplicity of the intellectual intuition."

  29. Sonderegger, Erwin. 2004. "La Vérité Chez Aristote." In La Verité. Antiquité - Modernité, edited by Aenishanslin, Jean-François, O'Mear, Dominic and Schüssler, Ingeborg, 47-63. Lausanne: Payot.

  30. Spangler, G. A. 1976. "Aristotle on Saying Something." Apeiron no. 10:38-46.

  31. Tugendhat, Ernst. 1992. "Der Wahrheitsbegriff Bei Aristoteles." In Philosophische Aufsätze, 251-260. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.

  32. Upton, Thomas. 2004. "Truth Vs. Necessary Truth in Aristotle's Sciences." Review of Metaphysics no. 57:741-753.

  33. Vigo, Alejandro. 1998. "Die Aristotelische Auffassung Der Praktischen Wahrheit." Internationale Zeitschrift für Philosophie no. 2:285-308.

  34. Visentin, Mauro. 1999. "La Sospensione Del Linguaggio Fra Verità E Realtà in Aristotele: Breve Commento Filosofico Del « de Interpretatione » "Annali dell'Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Storici no. 16:125-200.

  35. Weidemann, Hermann. 2005. "Überlegungen Zum Begriff Der Praktischen Wahrheit Bei Aristoteles." Zeitschrift für philosophische Forschung no. 59:345-357.

  36. Wheeler, Mark Richard. 2011. "A Deflationary Reading of Aristotle's Definitions of Truth and Falsehood at Metaphysics 1011 B 26-7." Apeiron no. 44:67-90.

    "Aristotle's definitions of truth and falsehood at Metaphysics 1011 B 26-7 are deflationary: they presuppose that there are assertions, intentional contents of assertions, ontological correlates of these, and a weak relation of correspondence-as-correlation, but they do not presuppose philosophical theories of any of these."

  37. Williams, K. J. 1978. " Aristotle's Theory of Truth." Prudentia no. 10:66-76.

  38. Wilpert, Paul. 1940. "Zum Aristotelischen Wahrheitsbegriff." Philosophische Jahrbuch no. 53:3-16.

  39. ———. 1940. "Die Wahrhaftigkeit in Der Aristotelischen Ethik." Philosophische Jahrbuch no. 53:324-338.

  40. ———. 1940. "Zum Aristotelischen Wahrheitsbegriff." Philosophisches Jahrbuch no. 53:3-16.

    Reprinted in: Fritz-Peter Hager (ed.), Logik und Erkenntnislehre des Aristoteles, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1972, pp. 106-121.

  41. Wolff, Francis. 1999. "Proposition, Être Et Verité: Aristote Ou Antisthène? (À Propos De Métaphysique Δ, 29)." In Théories De La Phrase Et De La Proposition De Platon À Averroès, edited by Büttgen, Philippe, Diebler, Stéphane and Rashed, Marwan, 43-63. Paris: Éditions Rue d'Ulm / Presses de l'École normale supérieure.

    " Lorsque, en Metaphysique Δ, 29, Aristote parle de la « chose vraie », cela ne signifie pas que le Stagirite possède, outre sa conception de la vérité propositionnelle, une conception de la vérité ontologique. Dans le texte en question, Aristote adopte, pour les besoins de la polémique, la conception antisthénienne de la proposition et de la vérité, selon laquelle il ne peut y avoir qu'un logos par objet, ce qui entraîne l'impossibilité de la contradiction. Cette conception donne lieu à des paradoxes, auxquels Platon se heurte notamment dans le Sophiste; mais qui n'ont été définitivement résolus que par la distinction analytique effectuée par Aristote entre sujet et prédicat, distinction qui marque la naissance de la notion de proposition proprement dite."

Epicureanism

Texts

Studies

  1. Everson, Stephen. 1990. "Epicurus on the Truth of the Senses." In Epistemology. Companions to Ancient Thought. Vol. 1, 161-183. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  2. Striker, Gisela. 1977. "Epicurus on the Truth of Senses Impressions." Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie no. 59:125-142.

    Reprinted in: G. Striker - Essays on Hellenistic epistemology and ethics - Cambridge, Cambridge Universipty Press, 1996, pp. 77-91

Stoicism

Texts

Studies

  1. Long, Anthony Arthur. 1971. "Language and Thought in Stoicism." In Problems in Stoicism, edited by Long, Anthony Arthur, 75-113. London: Athlone Press.

  2. ———. 2006. "The Stoic Distinction between Truth (Aletheia) and the True (Alethes)." In Les Stoiciens Et Leur Logique, edited by Brunschwig, Jacques, 61-78. Paris: Vrin.

    Second revised edition; first edition 1976.

Skepticism

Texts

Studies

  1. Groarke, Leo. 1990. Greek Scepticism. Anti-Realist Trends in Ancient Thought. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.

  2. Long, Anthony Arthur. 1978. "Sextus Empiricus on the Criterion of Truth." Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies no. 25:35-58.

Neoplatonism

Texts

Studies

  1. Beierwaltes, Werner. 1979. "Deus Est Veritas. Zur Rezeption Des Griechischen Wahrheitsbegriffes in Der Frühchristlichen Theologie." In Pietas. Festschrift Für Bernhard Kotting, edited by Dassmann, Ernst and Frank, K.Suso, 15-29. Münster: Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung.

Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)

Texts

Studies

  1. Muchnova, Dagmar. 1980. "Veritas Dans Les Traités Philosophiques De Marcus Tullius Cicéron." Graecolatina Pragensia no. 8:41-51.

    "L'examen des synonymes et antonymes et l'analyse de l'emploi de veritas, surtout du point de vue sémantique, montrent que Cicéron a contribué à la diffusion de ce terme, ainsi qu'à celle du mot verum, et qu'il les a enrichis d'un sens philosophique."