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T

WO

K

INDS OF

T

RUTH

| M

ICHAEL

W. J

ABS

Since the time of the Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711 76) and before, "tough minded" philosophers

have maintained that each truth   each true statement   comes in exactly one of two packages.  Trivial

truths   later called "analytic"   were deemed the appropriate domain of study by mathematicians and

logicians; important truths   later called "synthetic"   were to be considered by scientists.  And, of

course, since there are but two brands of truth, there are but two kinds of scholars: mathematicians and

scientists.

"Tender minded" opponents of this tradition   today s pragmatists   reject the bifurcation between the

trivial and the important.  They proffer recalcitrant cases of truths that, in their view, are neither fish

nor foul, neither wholly trivial nor obviously important.  Their view is that each truth finds its place on

a continuum between the sacrosanct and the expendable.  

In this well written and perspicuous essay, Michael Jabs considers this classical philosophical debate,

Two Kinds of Truth     Michael W. Jabs

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