Aristotle defined truth as, “In order for something to be true, it can in no way be false”. The Pragmatists, idealists, and Realists have all formulated methods of identifying these absolute truths. The Pragmatists have come up with a method that uses subjective experience and usefulness in determining truth. For something to be a truth under the Idealist Theory of Coherence, the truth must cohere to other established truths. The Realists’ Correspondence Theory states that a truth must much the objective reality that it describes. Before understanding the principles of these three theories, I had my own method of identifying truth.There are two processes, which I use to identify truth, that depend on whether or not the truth is internal or external. I consider internal truths to be concepts and ideas relating to myself. External truths are the concepts or ideas about other things that exist in my reality, such as the truth about the weather or an event that has occurred.When identifying an internal truth, I use a process that defeats the purpose of having methods to identify truth. When it comes to truths I want to establish for myself, such as saying ‘I am in love”, I automatically consider it to be true. I often mistake my beliefs as truth. I will convince myself that I am in love and exaggerate the justification to prove to myself that I am. I let the internal truths pass the test of veracity in my mind, without really giving them a second glance with a better method.When identifying an external truth, I judge the validity of the concept through a number of non-scientific or philosophical ways that would make Aristotle roll over in his grave. I justify the truthfulness of a concept based on whether or not it seems to “far fetched”, previous knowledge I am on the subject, the credibility of the source, and the reputation of the person or idea at hand. If I were to judge the statement “...
