180043 KU Conceptions of Truth (2024S)

Truth is one of the most important and contested notions in the history of Western philosophy. This course will trace some of the major developments and shifts in philosophical conceptions of truth, from Parmenides in the 5th century BCE, up to Charles Sanders Peirce and Martin Heidegger in the 19th and 20th centuries CE. The central questions of the course are “What is truth?” and “What has it been thought to be?”

In reading through and discussing the history of philosophical thinking about truth, we will see that truth has been conceived in very different ways by different thinkers in different times: sometimes as mysterious, sometimes as mundane; sometimes as timeless, sometimes as historical; sometimes as metaphysical, sometimes as existential; sometimes as coextensive with Being, sometimes as a feature of ideas or propositions, sometimes as something done. The course, however, will aim to go beyond merely comparing various theories of truth held by historical figures. We will also hope to begin to understand conceptions of truth as developing across time and, also, to evaluate these developments. By the end of the course students should possess the ability to assess contemporary and historical notions of truth at a foundational level, and to understand these differing notions in historical relation to each other.

Each week, students will read primary texts or excerpts from primary texts. Class meetings will be aimed at discussing these texts, critically evaluating their conceptions of truth, and exploring changes in such conceptions. Assignments will give students the opportunity to analyse textual arguments, to critically engage further with individual thinkers, and to explore historical shifts in philosophical thinking about truth.