Aletheia
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- This article is about the philosophical term. For other uses, see Aletheia (disambiguation).
Aletheia in its current sense comes from Heidegger's use of it as renewed attempt to understand Truth. Aletheia is the Greek word for truth, sincerity, the real or actual. It comes from a-letheia, that is unforgetful, cf, lethe.
It does not mean truth as correspondence, ie, that something said corresponds with something in the world, with facts. Nor does it mean truth as coherence, ie, that things are true because they fit with other facts or theories. Nor truth as usefulness as in pragmatism.
Chiefly then Aletheia is the truth that first appears when something is seen or revealed. It is to take out of hiddeness to uncover. It is not something that is connected with that which appears. Allowing something appear is then the first act of truth, for example, one must give attention to something before it can be a candidate for any further understanding, for any understanding of space it must first somehow appear. Untruth then is something concealed or disguised.
Heidegger is trying to uncover a meaning of truth that is pre-Socratic, since Socrates, truth has instead come to mean agreement, correspondence, coherence or usefulness. [1]
[edit] References
- ^ Heidegger, M. "Being and Time". Translated by Joan Stambaugh, Albany, State University of New York Press, 1996. (1927)
[edit] See Also
[edit] External links
- Alētheia in the Gospel of John Summary of relevant passages
- The vocabulary of ontology: Truth (Aletheia) Origins and developments of the concept of Truth (From the Greek Aletheia to the Latin Veritas)
