Pragmatic theory of truth

Pragmatic Theory of Truth

In the view of philosopher Charles Sanders Pierce, considered the originator or founder of the "pragmatic theory of truth," all human inquiry is a "struggle against the irritation of uncertainty or doubt" (Britannica Guide / Philosophy

And since humans are dissatisfied "by any suspension in judgment," Pierce went on, citizens will inevitably attempt to form "a belief," to which they "...then cling firmly even in the face of evidence to the contrary."

Hook: To the average, politically unsophisticated or politically disenchanted American, slickly produced lies and distortions are just as compelling on the TV screen and on Internet sites as are truth and sincerity.

Thesis: Today's political campaigns are more about using media (TV and radio commercials and Web sites) to distort the opposition's record than about extolling one's own record. Unfortunately, Americans elect leaders based on sound bites and 30-second attack ads, which are, unfortunately, effective in many instances. Indeed, truth tends to get lost in the medium when hundreds of millions of dollars are raised by both sides - Republicans and Democrats - to produce very glossy ads that embrace propaganda and distort the truth.

ARGUMENT #1: Peirce's theory of pragmatic truth is highly apropos in America in 2007; he believed that the human urge to believe in something in every circumstance is so powerful that many people adopt their political beliefs based "...upon whatever seems ready-to-hand..." (www.philosophypages.com).The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy summarizes the position of Pierce and philosopher William James this way: A pragmatic theory of truth holds that "...a proposition is true if it is useful to believe" (www.iep.utm.edu).There are many issues the media reports besides politics that are "useful to believe" as well.

SUPPORTING IDEA ONE: In the Congressional campaign of 2006, the supporters of Bush and the war in Iraq used the following quote "thousands of times" (www.factcheck.com) in speeches, newspaper ads, letters to the editor and on the Internet: "Congressmen who willfully take action during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs, and should be arrested, exiled or hanged,' that's what President Abraham Lincoln said during the War Between the States," the quote stated. One Republican who used that quote often was candidate Diana Irey, running against Iraq war critic Congressman John Murtha, a Democrat.

In fact, Lincoln never uttered those words (or anything close to those words) according to FactCheck.org, a watchdog group that points out distortions and "untruths" (the word "lies" is politically incorrect) on both sides of the political landscape. The phrase attributed to Lincoln was actually written by a conservative scholar writing for Insight magazine (Dec. 23, 2003), J. Michael Waller, who acknowledged writing it but insists he didn't intend for it to be an actual fact tied to Abraham Lincoln. This is a classic example of how the media picks up some information and it becomes "truth" only because it is repeated so often. So, at that time, Diana Irey's supporters found it was useful to believe that President Lincoln had said that, because Murtha was leading in the polls and campaigns are often scenes of desperation. She apologized shortly after FactCheck.com revealed the truth about the so-called Lincoln quote.

SUPPORTING IDEA #2: When three lacrosse players at Duke University were accused of sexually assaulting and kidnapping an escort service dancer at a team party in March, 2006, members of the media rushed to a judgment of guilty. The case received headlines and extraordinary media coverage, and had the ring of "truth" for three reasons; one, the dancer who claimed she was raped and kidnapped by the lacrosse players is African-American, and all three players are Caucasian, and whenever an issue is racially charged, there tends to be overreaction and fairness gets lost in the rhetoric; two, Duke University is a prestigious institution with a sterling reputation in its academic and sports programs, and when it was revealed that this African-American woman was allegedly pulled into a bathroom, beaten, choked, and raped by three white men, the story brought African-American leaders like Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton to Duke to denounce the acts of the lacrosse players; and three, according to the pragmatic theory of truth, with is certainly in play in America, something reported is true if it is useful to believe it is true.

Meanwhile, all the charges against the lacrosse players have been dropped (for lack of evidence), and the Attorney General of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, stated (www.cnn.law.com) that "...the inconsistencies were so significant and so contrary to the evidence that we have no credible evidence that an attack occurred..." Cooper went on to say that "No DNA confirms the accuser's story" and "no other witness confirms" her story; in fact, "other evidence contradicts her story." He criticized the district attorney who prosecuted the case, Michael Nifong, who was running for reelection at the time the charges were brought against the players; "...caution would have served justice better than bravado," he asserted. But part of the reason that caution was thrown to the wind was the media coverage was so intense and had such powerful momentum that people began believing that something bad had happened; after all, black people have suffered great injustices at the hands of Caucasians, and this seemed to fit neatly into that history.

TRANSITION: In an article published in the journal Review of Politics (Boffetti, 2004 p. 612), the author discusses the philosophical theories of two proponents of the pragmatic theory of truth, Richard Rorty and William James. Boffetti points out that, according to Rorty, "James said a lot of...conflicting things about truth - such as that it consists in some kind of agreement between ideas and reality" (Boffetti, 612). But what Rorty did approve of in the context of William James was "James first theory of truth," which is "truth is what works." James so-called second theory of truth, according to Boffetti's account of Rorty, is that "...ideas (which are themselves but parts of our experience) become true just insofar as they help us get into satisfactory relation with other parts of our experience" (Boffetti 612).