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This page is about the philosophical term. For other uses, see Aletheia (disambiguation).
A Painting that reveals (alethe) a whole world. Heidegger mentions this particular work of Van Gogh's in "The Origin of the Work of Art."
A Painting that reveals (alethe) a whole world. Heidegger mentions this particular work of Van Gogh's in "The Origin of the Work of Art."

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Aletheia is the Greek word for truth, and implies sincerity, actuality, and reality. It is a significant concept in the study of philosophy and epistemology becuase defining truth as "aletheia," instead of as correspondence or coherence, represents a clear departure from nearly every philosophical tradition since the Ancient period.

In the early to mid 20th-century, Martin Heidegger resurrected ἀ–λήθεια and developed the notion into the form recognized today; a renewed attempt to understand Truth. Heidegger gave an etymological analysis of the term, and drew out an understanding of a-letheia as 'disclosedness'; cf. lethe as unforgetful.

Thus, aletheia is distinct from the more well-known conceptions of truth as statements which accurately describe a state of affairs (correspondence), or statements which fit properly into a system taken as a whole (coherence). Instead, Heidegger focused on the elucidation of a meaning of truth that is pre-Socratic.

[edit] Heidegger and Aletheia

Chiefly, then, Aletheia is the truth that first appears when something is seen or revealed. It is to take out of hiddeness to uncover. It is not something that is connected with that which appears. Allowing something to appear is then the first act of truth; for example, one must give attention to something before it can be a candidate for any further understanding, for any understanding of space it must first somehow appear. Untruth, then, is something concealed or disguised.

[edit] Further reading

Heidegger began his discourse on the reappropriation of aletheia in his magnum opus, Being and Time, and expanded on the concept in his Introduction to Metaphysics. For more on his understanding of truth, see Poetry, Language, and Thought, in particular the essay entitled "The Origin of the Work of Art," which describes the value of the work of art as a means to open a clearing, or a truth set to the work.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Heidegger, M. "Being and Time". Translated by Joan Stambaugh, Albany, State University of New York Press, 1996. (1927)

[edit] See Also

[edit] External links