A Reliability Theory of Truth

TL;DR

This paper proposes a coherence-based truth theory that replaces consistency with reliability, assigning support or attack to all information sources without needing privileged access to reality.

Contribution

It introduces a novel reliability framework for truth that accounts for all theories and agents, avoiding traditional coherence pitfalls and extending to value systems and actions.

Findings

Reliability replaces consistency in truth assessment.

All theories, agents, and messages are evaluated for support or attack.

Unreliable sources diminish in influence over time.

Abstract

Our approach is basically a coherence approach, but we avoid the well-known pitfalls of coherence theories of truth. Consistency is replaced by reliability, which expresses support and attack, and, in principle, every theory (or agent, message) counts. At the same time, we do not require a priviledged access to "reality". A centerpiece of our approach is that we attribute reliability also to agents, messages, etc., so an unreliable source of information will be less important in future. Our ideas can also be extended to value systems, and even actions, e.g., of animals.