semantics Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy Philosophy (f ...

and

pragmatics In linguistics and related fields, pragmatics is the study of how context contributes to meaning. The field of study evaluates how human language is utilized in social interactions, as well as the relationship between the interpreter and the int ...

, a truth condition is the condition under which a sentence is

true True most commonly refers to truth, the state of being in congruence with fact or reality. True may also refer to: Places * True, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States * True, Wisconsin, a town in the United States * Tr ...

. For example, "It is snowing in

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

" is true precisely when it is snowing in Nebraska. Truth conditions of a sentence do not necessarily reflect current reality. They are merely the conditions under which the statement would be true. More formally, a truth condition makes for the truth of a sentence in an

inductive definition In mathematics and computer science, a recursive definition, or inductive definition, is used to define the elements in a set in terms of other elements in the set ( Aczel 1977:740ff). Some examples of recursively-definable objects include fact ...

of truth (for details, see the

semantic theory of truth A semantic theory of truth is a theory of truth in the philosophy of language which holds that truth is a property of sentences. Origin The semantic conception of truth, which is related in different ways to both the correspondence and deflati ...

). Understood this way, truth conditions are

theoretical entities A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be s ...

. To illustrate with an example: suppose that, in a particular truth theoryField, H. (1972). Tarski's Theory of Truth. ''The Journal of Philosophy,'' ''69''(13), 347-375. which is a theory of truth where truth is somehow made acceptable despite semantic terms as close as possible, the word "Nixon" refers to Richard M. Nixon, and "is alive" is associated with the

set Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics *Set (mathematics), a collection of elements *Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively Electro ...

of currently living things. Then one way of representing the truth condition of "Nixon is alive" is as the

ordered pair In mathematics, an ordered pair (''a'', ''b'') is a pair of objects. The order in which the objects appear in the pair is significant: the ordered pair (''a'', ''b'') is different from the ordered pair (''b'', ''a'') unless ''a'' = ''b''. (In con ...

. And we say that "Nixon is alive" is true if and only if the referent (or referent of) "Nixon" belongs to the set associated with "is alive", that is, if and only if Nixon is alive. In semantics, the truth condition of a sentence is almost universally considered distinct from its meaning. The meaning of a sentence is conveyed if the truth conditions for the sentence are understood. Additionally, there are many sentences that are understood although their truth condition is uncertain. One popular argument for this view is that some sentences are

necessarily true Logical truth is one of the most fundamental concepts in logic. Broadly speaking, a logical truth is a statement which is true regardless of the truth or falsity of its constituent propositions. In other words, a logical truth is a statement whic ...

— that is, they are true whatever happens to obtain. All such sentences have the same truth conditions, but arguably do not thereby have the same meaning. Likewise, the sets and are identical — they have precisely the same members — but presumably the sentences "Nixon is alive" and "Nixon is alive and is not a rock" have different meanings.

Notes and references

* Iten, C. (2005). Linguistic meaning, truth conditions and relevance: The case of concessives. Basingstoke, Hampshire;New York;: Palgrave Macmillan. {{DEFAULTSORT:Truth Condition Semantics Condition

See also

Notes and references