Truth is most often used to mean in accord with fact or reality or fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal.
The opposite of truth is falsehood, which, correspondingly, can also take on a logical, factual, or ethical meaning. The concept of truth is discussed and debated in several contexts, including philosophy and religion. Many human activities depend upon the concept, which is assumed rather than a subject of discussion, including science, law, and everyday life.
Various theories and views of truth continue to be debated among scholars and philosophers. Language and words are a means by which humans convey information to one another and the method used to recognize a "truth" is termed a criterion of truth. There are differing claims on such questions as what constitutes truth: what things are truthbearers capable of being true or false; how to define and identify truth; the roles that revealed and acquired knowledge play; and whether truth is subjective or objective, relative or absolute.
Many religions consider perfect knowledge of all truth about all things (omniscience) to be an attribute of a divine or supernatural being.
Read more about Truth: Nomenclature, Orthography, and Etymology, Major Theories of Truth, In Medicine and Psychiatry, In Religion: Omniscience
Famous quotes containing the word truth:
“The old saying of Buffon’s that style is the man himself is as near the truth as we can get—but then most men mistake grammar for style, as they mistake correct spelling for words or schooling for education.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
“Even truth needs to be clad in new garments if it is to appeal to a new age.”
—G.C. (Georg Christoph)
“Seeing then that truth consisteth in the right ordering of names in our affirmations, a man that seeketh precise truth, had need to remember what every name he uses stands for; and to place it accordingly; or else he will find himself entangled in words, as a bird in lime-twigs; the more he struggles, the more belimed.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)