Avril, Azamat, and Pat, (01)
I support Pat's position on the criteria for truth. (02)
I don't believe that the criteria for defining truth vary from
one context or one discipline to another. Different fields of
study certainly have very different goals and methodologies.
But the criterion for a sentence S to be true about some state
of affairs A is the same for all fields: (03)
Does the pattern of entities and relationships expressed by S
have an accurate correspondence to the pattern of entities
and relationships in the state of affairs A? (04)
The method for answering that question may be very different
for different subjects, say chemistry (where experiments are
commonly performed to test any claim) vs. astronomy (where
experiments are usually impossible). But the criterion for
truth -- no matter how the tests are performed -- is the same. (05)
And if anybody might object that Pat and I have been tainted
by our study of mathematics and logic, I'd like to quote a
prominent religious leader, Karol Wojtyla (AKA Pope John Paul II),
who said "Truth cannot contradict truth" -- it is not possible
for a truth of religion and a truth of science to be in conflict. (06)
Source: http://www.beliefnet.com/story/13/story_1352_1.html (07)
There may certainly be major conflicts about which particular
statements are true, but the criterion is not in dispute. (08)
John (09)
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