Alethiology (or alethology, "the study of
aletheia
''Aletheia'' or Alethia (; grc, ἀλήθεια) is truth or disclosure in philosophy. Originating in Ancient Greek philosophy, the term was later used in the works of 20th-century philosopher Martin Heidegger. Although often translated as " ...
") literally means the ''study of
truth
Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as belief ...
'', 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 (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics.
Epi ...
'', the study of knowledge, and that dividing the two is mere
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, linguistics and comput ...
, 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
The ''Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' is an encyclopedia of philosophy edited by Edward Craig that was first published by Routledge in 1998 (). Originally published in both 10 volumes of print and as a CD-ROM, in 2002 it was made availabl ...
'' 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. S ...
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
Karen Leslie Carr is an American scholar and McNaughton Rosebush Professor of Liberal Studies and Professor of Religious Studies at Lawrence University.
She is known for her works on nihilism and philosophy of religion
Philosophy of religion ...
's ''The Banalization of Nihilism'' (pp. 17–18) in contrast to several other types of nihilism, especially
epistemological nihilism
Philosophical skepticism ( UK spelling: scepticism; from Greek σκέψις ''skepsis'', "inquiry") is a family of philosophical views that question the possibility of knowledge. It differs from other forms of skepticism in that it even reject ...
. 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 disputed ...
*
Theories of truth
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 ...
Citations
Epistemology
Truth
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