Truth

From Geography

The word truth in human geography refers to a valid claim. Truth is considered by various thinkers over a long time:

• In the 19th century, Friedrich Nietzsche lived in the middle of an era of rising industrialization, positivism and secularism. A lot of previous ´truths´ were eliminated.

• In the 20th century, Jacques Derrida developed a concept of deconstruction truths by examining power structures (Gibson-Graham, 2007).

• Furthermore, Michel Foucault claimed that there was a regime of truth, which means that a certain ´truth´ is imposed by power structures (Foucault, 1970).

• According to Jürgen Habermas during a discussion or speech act, there are three worlds or levels in which the speech act (or discussion) should be valid. One of these levels is the objective world, the [[[purposive rationality]]. This level concerns facts and so the truth. The intentions in this level are more important then the actual achieving of the goal, says Habermas.

References

• Foucault, M. (1970). The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. New York: Vintage Books.

• Gibson-Graham, J.K. (2007). Poststructural Interventions.

• Habermas, J. (1984) The Theory of Communicative Action Volume 1; Reason and the Rationalization of Society. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Contributors

• Page created by User: BoudewijnIdema - 20:16, 18 September 2011 (UTC)

• Page slightly enhanced and added to Category 'Language Pragmatic Action Theory' by Iris van der Wal - 11:38, October 26th 2012