Terminology Tuesday: Correspondence Theory of Truth

Correspondence Theory of Truth: Most natural and widely held view of propositional truth, which holds that a proposition is true if it corresponds to or agrees with reality. The core of the correspondence theory of truth is the commonsense notion that the truth or falsity of a proposition is determined by an independent reality. Thus this view of truth is linked to metaphysical realism. When developed beyond this commonsense notion of truth (for example, by the metaphysical postulation of a realm of facts corresponding to propositions), the correspondence theory becomes controversial. Its major rivals are the coherentist and pragmatic theories of truth, which tie truth closely to human thinking and human acting, respectively.1

1. C.Stephen Evans, Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), p. 28.