Czarnocka’s Conception of Symbolic Truth

• Authors: Mitias Michael H.
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The proposition I elucidate and defend in this paper is that the explanatory power of Malgorzata Czarnocka’s conception of symbolic truth extends beyond our knowledge of empirical reality and includes our knowledge of human nature and human values. The paper is composed of two parts. In the first part I present a detailed analysis of the con- ception of symbolic truth. The focus in this analysis is on the nature of the correspond- ence relation which connects a true statement and the cognitive object. Czarnocka per- suasively argues that this relation is neither isomorphic nor homomorphic in character. She advances a detailed analysis of sensual perception as the locus of the cognitive act. The outcome of this analysis is that the structure of the statement which is articulated in this act does not copy or mirror the structure of the object but is a linguistic representa- tion. In the second part of the paper I argue that empirical reality is not the paradigm of reality and that scientific knowledge is not the paradigm of knowledge. The domain of humanity is as real as the domain of empirical reality, and our knowledge of this domain is as central to our life as scientific knowledge is. Moreover, I argue that Czar- nocka’s conception of symbolic truth functions adequately in explaining the possibility of knowledge of human nature and human values with special focus on the literary work of art.

Keywords

EN

correspondence; cognitive object; cognitive subject; perception; culture; statement; value; truth; symbol

• Publisher: Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk; Fundacja Filozofia Na Rzecz Dialogu
• Journal: Dialogue and Universalism
• Year: 2019
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 153-188

Contributors

author

Mitias Michael H.

• Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, U.S.A.