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Truth, Se­man­tics, & Meaning

TagLast edit: May 4, 2022, 5:14 AM by icecream17

Truth, Semantics, and Meaning: What does it mean to assert that something is true? A very popular answer is map-territory correspondence theory. But the details of this theory are not clear, and there are other contenders.

Truth as Correspondence

Many consider truth as the correspondence between reality and one’s beliefs about reality. Within this frame, truth itself is not necessarily limited to one’s belief about something. For a statement/​ideal/​proposed fact to be considered “true,” you must take it as its definition. Truth doesn’t imply that something has to be proven in order for it to be made true, but that the statement/​ideal/​proposed fact has to be true all of the time, regardless of one’s belief.

Alfred Tarski defined truth in terms of an infinite family of sentences such as:

The sentence ‘snow is white’ is true if and only if snow is white.

To understand whether a belief is true, we need (only) to understand what possible states of the world would make it true or false, and then ask directly about the world. Often, people assume that ideals and morals change with culture; as they tend to do. Unfortunately, many people struggle with their belief of “truth” based on their religion. Because of their belief, they object the currently accepted “truth” about the world, about life (how we all got here), and most importantly, what is considered “right” or “wrong.”

“Truth” is not, however, a determination. Truth is not simply a belief. Truth is an ideal, concept, or fact that can be observed. Whether an individual has a belief derived from their religion on what is truth or not, unless they have observed it, they cannot prove whether their belief is truth or not. Reiterating from above: the lack of proof or justification, or even rationalization, does not change the status of truth. What’s truth is truth, and what is false, is false. Humans simply decide to reject notions and proposed facts as truth if they are not observable, or are not able to show any proof.

‘Truth’ is a very simple concept, understood perfectly well by three-year-olds, but often made unnecessarily complicated by adults.

Other Theories of Truth

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Notable Posts

External links

See also

The Use­ful Idea of Truth

Eliezer YudkowskyOct 2, 2012, 6:16 PM
194 points
544 comments14 min readLW link

The Sim­ple Truth

Eliezer YudkowskyJan 1, 2008, 8:00 PM
165 points
15 comments22 min readLW link

Car­to­graphic Processes

johnswentworthAug 27, 2019, 8:02 PM
23 points
3 comments4 min readLW link

The Miss­ing Math of Map-Making

johnswentworthAug 28, 2019, 9:18 PM
40 points
8 comments2 min readLW link

0th Per­son and 1st Per­son Logic

Adele LopezMar 10, 2024, 12:56 AM
60 points
28 comments6 min readLW link

Philos­o­phy in the Dark­est Timeline: Ba­sics of the Evolu­tion of Meaning

Zack_M_DavisJun 7, 2020, 7:52 AM
132 points
16 comments14 min readLW link

A Chi­nese Room Con­tain­ing a Stack of Stochas­tic Parrots

RogerDearnaleyJan 12, 2024, 6:29 AM
20 points
3 comments5 min readLW link

No Log­i­cal Pos­i­tivist I

Eliezer YudkowskyAug 4, 2008, 1:06 AM
39 points
54 comments4 min readLW link

Why Truth?

Eliezer YudkowskyNov 27, 2006, 1:49 AM
175 points
61 comments3 min readLW link

Contin­gency is not arbitrary

Gordon Seidoh WorleyOct 12, 2022, 4:35 AM
13 points
0 comments3 min readLW link

How webs of mean­ing grow and change

HazardAug 14, 2020, 1:58 PM
14 points
0 comments10 min readLW link

By Which It May Be Judged

Eliezer YudkowskyDec 10, 2012, 4:26 AM
95 points
941 comments11 min readLW link

A Priori

Eliezer YudkowskyOct 8, 2007, 9:02 PM
86 points
133 comments4 min readLW link

Guardians of the Truth

Eliezer YudkowskyDec 15, 2007, 6:44 PM
56 points
55 comments4 min readLW link

Prob­lems fac­ing a cor­re­spon­dence the­ory of knowledge

Alex FlintMay 24, 2021, 4:02 PM
30 points
22 comments6 min readLW link

Wor­ri­some mi­s­un­der­stand­ing of the core is­sues with AI transition

Roman LeventovJan 18, 2024, 10:05 AM
5 points
2 comments4 min readLW link

Uncer­tainty in all its flavours

Cleo NardoJan 9, 2024, 4:21 PM
27 points
6 comments35 min readLW link

AI al­ign­ment as a trans­la­tion problem

Roman LeventovFeb 5, 2024, 2:14 PM
22 points
2 comments3 min readLW link

From Con­cep­tual Spaces to Quan­tum Con­cepts: For­mal­is­ing and Learn­ing Struc­tured Con­cep­tual Models

Roman LeventovFeb 6, 2024, 10:18 AM
8 points
1 comment4 min readLW link
(arxiv.org)

Fun­da­men­tal Uncer­tainty: Chap­ter 8 - When does fun­da­men­tal un­cer­tainty mat­ter?

Gordon Seidoh WorleyApr 26, 2024, 6:10 PM
11 points
2 comments32 min readLW link

Deep Honesty

AletheophileMay 7, 2024, 8:31 PM
158 points
25 comments9 min readLW link

Truth­seek­ing pro­cesses tend to be frame-invariant

Adele LopezMar 21, 2023, 6:17 AM
21 points
2 comments2 min readLW link

In Defense of Parselmouths

ScrewtapeNov 15, 2023, 11:02 PM
48 points
11 comments10 min readLW link1 review

Fun­da­men­tal Uncer­tainty: Chap­ter 7 - Why is truth use­ful?

Gordon Seidoh WorleyApr 30, 2023, 4:48 PM
10 points
3 comments10 min readLW link

Fun­da­men­tal Uncer­tainty: Chap­ter 6 - How can we be cer­tain about the truth?

Gordon Seidoh WorleyMar 6, 2023, 1:52 PM
10 points
18 comments16 min readLW link

Ra­tion­al­ity: Ap­pre­ci­at­ing Cog­ni­tive Algorithms

Eliezer YudkowskyOct 6, 2012, 9:59 AM
97 points
135 comments5 min readLW link

Can We Do Without Bridge Hy­pothe­ses?

Rob BensingerJan 25, 2014, 12:50 AM
16 points
9 comments3 min readLW link

Build­ing Phenomenolog­i­cal Bridges

Rob BensingerDec 23, 2013, 7:57 PM
95 points
115 comments11 min readLW link

Reductionism

Eliezer YudkowskyMar 16, 2008, 6:26 AM
127 points
162 comments4 min readLW link

A Sketch of an Anti-Real­ist Metaethics

JackAug 22, 2011, 5:32 AM
26 points
136 comments7 min readLW link

Leaky Concepts

EloMar 5, 2019, 10:01 PM
20 points
2 comments2 min readLW link

On count­ing and addition

Anatoly_VorobeyNov 9, 2012, 3:26 AM
47 points
23 comments4 min readLW link

Map:Ter­ri­tory::Uncer­tainty::Ran­dom­ness – but that doesn’t mat­ter, value of in­for­ma­tion does.

DavidmanheimJan 22, 2016, 7:12 PM
8 points
21 comments3 min readLW link

Re­quest for Steel­man: Non-cor­re­spon­dence con­cepts of truth

PeerGyntMar 24, 2015, 3:11 AM
16 points
74 comments2 min readLW link

Truth and the Liar Paradox

casebashSep 2, 2014, 2:05 AM
5 points
45 comments4 min readLW link

Un­solved Prob­lems in Philos­o­phy Part 1: The Liar’s Paradox

KevinNov 30, 2010, 8:56 AM
7 points
142 comments1 min readLW link

Mean­ings of Math­e­mat­i­cal Truths

praseJun 5, 2011, 10:59 PM
13 points
47 comments4 min readLW link

Why I Re­ject the Cor­re­spon­dence The­ory of Truth

pragmatistMar 24, 2015, 11:00 AM
26 points
30 comments8 min readLW link

Mixed Refer­ence: The Great Re­duc­tion­ist Project

Eliezer YudkowskyDec 5, 2012, 12:26 AM
61 points
358 comments9 min readLW link

A Prag­matic Epistemology

StephenRAug 5, 2014, 5:43 AM
2 points
21 comments6 min readLW link

Astray with the Truth: Logic and Math

StephenRAug 16, 2014, 3:40 PM
4 points
21 comments8 min readLW link

Find­ing the variables

Stuart_ArmstrongMar 4, 2019, 7:37 PM
30 points
1 comment4 min readLW link

Bridg­ing syn­tax and se­man­tics, empirically

Stuart_ArmstrongSep 19, 2018, 4:48 PM
25 points
4 comments6 min readLW link

Maybe Ly­ing Can’t Ex­ist?!

Zack_M_DavisAug 23, 2020, 12:36 AM
58 points
16 comments5 min readLW link

The whirlpool of reality

Gordon Seidoh WorleySep 27, 2020, 2:36 AM
9 points
2 comments2 min readLW link

Philos­o­phy of Num­bers (part 2)

Charlie SteinerDec 19, 2017, 1:57 PM
3 points
10 comments5 min readLW link

Sig­nal­ling & Simulacra

abramdemskiNov 14, 2020, 7:24 PM
63 points
30 comments5 min readLW link

25 Min Talk on Me­taEth­i­cal.AI with Ques­tions from Stu­art Armstrong

June KuApr 29, 2021, 3:38 PM
21 points
7 comments1 min readLW link

Truth + Rea­son = The True Reli­gion?

David GrossSep 17, 2021, 10:14 PM
34 points
2 comments19 min readLW link

Knowl­edge is not just map/​ter­ri­tory resemblance

Alex FlintMay 25, 2021, 5:58 PM
28 points
4 comments3 min readLW link

Knowl­edge is not just mu­tual information

Alex FlintJun 10, 2021, 1:01 AM
28 points
6 comments4 min readLW link

Knowl­edge is not just digi­tal ab­strac­tion layers

Alex FlintJun 15, 2021, 3:49 AM
21 points
4 comments5 min readLW link

Knowl­edge is not just pre­cip­i­ta­tion of action

Alex FlintJun 18, 2021, 11:26 PM
21 points
6 comments7 min readLW link

The ac­cu­mu­la­tion of knowl­edge: liter­a­ture review

Alex FlintJul 10, 2021, 6:36 PM
29 points
3 comments7 min readLW link

Why the Prob­lem of the Cri­te­rion Matters

Gordon Seidoh WorleyOct 30, 2021, 8:44 PM
24 points
9 comments8 min readLW link

The Meta-Puzzle

DanielFilanNov 22, 2021, 5:30 AM
23 points
27 comments3 min readLW link
(danielfilan.com)

The Map-Ter­ri­tory Distinc­tion Creates Confusion

Gordon Seidoh WorleyJan 4, 2022, 3:49 PM
25 points
50 comments4 min readLW link

ELK Thought Dump

abramdemskiFeb 28, 2022, 6:46 PM
61 points
18 comments17 min readLW link

How do new mod­els from OpenAI, Deep­Mind and An­thropic perform on Truth­fulQA?

Owain_EvansFeb 26, 2022, 12:46 PM
44 points
3 comments11 min readLW link

Mar­riage, the Giv­ing What We Can Pledge, and the dam­age caused by vague pub­lic commitments

Jeffrey LadishJul 11, 2022, 7:38 PM
98 points
27 comments6 min readLW link1 review

Au­ton­omy as tak­ing re­spon­si­bil­ity for refer­ence maintenance

Ramana KumarAug 17, 2022, 12:50 PM
61 points
3 comments5 min readLW link

Truth seek­ing is mo­ti­vated cognition

Gordon Seidoh WorleyOct 7, 2022, 7:19 PM
6 points
39 comments3 min readLW link

Teleose­man­tics!

abramdemskiFeb 23, 2023, 11:26 PM
82 points
27 comments6 min readLW link1 review

Fun­da­men­tal Uncer­tainty: Chap­ter 2 - Why do words have mean­ing?

Gordon Seidoh WorleyApr 18, 2022, 8:54 PM
15 points
18 comments11 min readLW link

Three Fal­la­cies of Teleology

Eliezer YudkowskyAug 25, 2008, 10:27 PM
38 points
14 comments9 min readLW link

Notes on Honesty

David GrossOct 28, 2020, 12:54 AM
46 points
6 comments20 min readLW link

Notes on Sincer­ity and such

David GrossDec 1, 2020, 5:09 AM
9 points
2 comments10 min readLW link

The Third Circle

ZviMay 21, 2018, 12:10 PM
12 points
0 comments3 min readLW link
(thezvi.wordpress.com)

Log­i­cal Pinpointing

Eliezer YudkowskyNov 2, 2012, 3:33 PM
133 points
345 comments10 min readLW link

ChatGPT defines 10 con­crete terms: gener­i­cally, for 5- and 11-year-olds, and for a sci­en­tist

Bill BenzonApr 11, 2024, 8:27 PM
3 points
9 comments6 min readLW link

A Semiotic Cri­tique of the Orthog­o­nal­ity Thesis

Nicolas VillarrealJun 4, 2024, 6:52 PM
3 points
10 comments15 min readLW link

Per­sonal ex­am­ples of se­man­tic stopsigns

AlexeiDec 6, 2013, 2:12 AM
69 points
72 comments1 min readLW link

This Ter­ri­tory Does Not Exist

ikeAug 13, 2020, 12:30 AM
7 points
197 comments7 min readLW link

An LLM-based “ex­em­plary ac­tor”

Roman LeventovMay 29, 2023, 11:12 AM
16 points
0 comments12 min readLW link

LessWrong: West vs. East

NeuroffOct 19, 2017, 3:13 AM
11 points
15 comments7 min readLW link

The Fabric of Real Things

Eliezer YudkowskyOct 12, 2012, 2:11 AM
43 points
308 comments4 min readLW link

The Lin­guis­tic Blind Spot of Value-Aligned Agency, Nat­u­ral and Ar­tifi­cial

Roman LeventovFeb 14, 2023, 6:57 AM
6 points
0 comments2 min readLW link
(arxiv.org)

Search­ing for a model’s con­cepts by their shape – a the­o­ret­i­cal framework

Feb 23, 2023, 8:14 PM
51 points
0 comments19 min readLW link

Philos­o­phy of Num­bers (part 1)

Charlie SteinerDec 2, 2017, 6:20 PM
11 points
14 comments3 min readLW link

Con­cep­tual Anal­y­sis for AI Align­ment

David Scott Krueger (formerly: capybaralet)Dec 30, 2018, 12:46 AM
29 points
3 comments2 min readLW link

The is­sue of mean­ing in large lan­guage mod­els (LLMs)

Bill BenzonMar 11, 2023, 11:00 PM
1 point
34 comments8 min readLW link

The Short Case for Verificationism

ikeSep 11, 2020, 6:48 PM
6 points
57 comments1 min readLW link

Vec­tor se­man­tics and “Kubla Khan,” Part 2

Bill BenzonMar 17, 2023, 4:32 PM
2 points
0 comments3 min readLW link

Real Mean­ing of life has been found. Eliezer dis­cov­ered it in 2000′s.

JorterderAug 9, 2023, 6:13 PM
−15 points
1 comment1 min readLW link
(docs.google.com)

Pur­pose and Pragmatism

Eliezer YudkowskyNov 26, 2007, 6:51 AM
25 points
8 comments2 min readLW link

Math is Sub­junc­tively Objective

Eliezer YudkowskyJul 25, 2008, 11:06 AM
49 points
118 comments8 min readLW link

In­for­mal se­man­tics and Orders

Q HomeAug 27, 2022, 4:17 AM
14 points
10 comments26 min readLW link

Separate the truth from your wishes

Jacob G-WAug 23, 2023, 12:52 AM
6 points
3 comments1 min readLW link
(jacobgw.com)

Knowl­edge Base 2: The struc­ture and the method of building

iwisOct 9, 2023, 11:53 AM
2 points
4 comments7 min readLW link

Knowl­edge Base 6: Con­sen­sus the­ory of truth

iwisNov 3, 2023, 1:56 PM
−8 points
0 comments1 min readLW link

“Ar­bi­trary”

Eliezer YudkowskyAug 12, 2008, 5:55 PM
19 points
14 comments4 min readLW link

Tarski State­ments as Ra­tion­al­ist Exercise

Vladimir_NesovMar 17, 2009, 7:47 PM
12 points
10 comments4 min readLW link

Knowl­edge Base 8: The truth as an at­trac­tor in the in­for­ma­tion space

iwisApr 25, 2024, 3:28 PM
−8 points
0 comments2 min readLW link

[Link] “Im­proper Nouns” by siderea

KennySep 29, 2022, 1:28 PM
17 points
3 comments1 min readLW link
(siderea.dreamwidth.org)

Su­per­nat­u­ral Math

saturnMay 19, 2009, 11:31 AM
5 points
58 comments1 min readLW link

An­ime Ex­plains the Epi­menides Paradox

Eliezer YudkowskyMay 27, 2009, 9:12 PM
4 points
29 comments1 min readLW link

Where is the Mean­ing?

HazardJul 22, 2019, 8:18 PM
21 points
3 comments4 min readLW link

Un­der­stand­ing LLMs: Some ba­sic ob­ser­va­tions about words, syn­tax, and dis­course [w/​ a con­jec­ture about grokking]

Bill BenzonOct 11, 2023, 7:13 PM
6 points
0 comments5 min readLW link

Map­ping ChatGPT’s on­tolog­i­cal land­scape, gra­di­ents and choices [in­ter­pretabil­ity]

Bill BenzonOct 15, 2023, 8:12 PM
1 point
0 comments18 min readLW link

Col­laps­ing the Belief/​Knowl­edge Distinction

JeremiasSep 11, 2024, 9:24 PM
−7 points
8 comments1 min readLW link

Use­ful­ness grounds truth

invertedpassionJul 10, 2024, 7:58 AM
0 points
0 comments4 min readLW link

The­o­ries of Knowledge

Zero ContradictionsAug 11, 2024, 8:55 AM
−1 points
5 comments1 min readLW link
(thewaywardaxolotl.blogspot.com)

An Un­mea­sured Song of Measurement

jan SijanSep 21, 2024, 3:08 PM
−3 points
0 comments4 min readLW link

The Over­looked Ne­ces­sity of Com­plete Se­man­tic Rep­re­sen­ta­tion in AI Safety and Alignment

williamsaeAug 15, 2024, 7:42 PM
−1 points
0 comments3 min readLW link

Knowl­edge Base 1: Could it in­crease in­tel­li­gence and make it safer?

iwisSep 30, 2024, 4:00 PM
−4 points
0 comments4 min readLW link

Fit­ting­ness: Ra­tional suc­cess in con­cept formation

PolytoposJan 10, 2021, 3:58 PM
6 points
9 comments6 min readLW link

Tak­ing non­log­i­cal con­cepts seriously

Kris BrownOct 15, 2024, 6:16 PM
7 points
5 comments18 min readLW link
(topos.site)

Galatea and the windup toy

Nicolas VillarrealOct 26, 2024, 2:52 PM
−3 points
0 comments13 min readLW link
(nicolasdvillarreal.substack.com)

Higher Order Signs, Hal­lu­ci­na­tion and Schizophrenia

Nicolas VillarrealNov 2, 2024, 4:33 PM
3 points
0 comments13 min readLW link
(nicolasdvillarreal.substack.com)

Levels of Thought: from Points to Fields

HNXDec 2, 2024, 8:25 PM
4 points
2 comments23 min readLW link

The Fun­da­men­tal Cir­cu­lar­ity The­o­rem: Why Some Math­e­mat­i­cal Be­havi­ours Are In­her­ently Unprovable

Alister MundayJan 22, 2025, 6:20 PM
−11 points
2 comments4 min readLW link

Towards build­ing blocks of ontologies

Feb 8, 2025, 4:03 PM
25 points
0 comments26 min readLW link

On the na­ture of pur­pose

Nora_AmmannJan 22, 2021, 8:30 AM
29 points
15 comments9 min readLW link

Why There Is No An­swer to Your Philo­soph­i­cal Question

Bryan FrancesMar 24, 2023, 11:22 PM
−12 points
10 comments12 min readLW link

[Question] Is it cor­rect to frame al­ign­ment as “pro­gram­ming a good philos­o­phy of mean­ing”?

UtilApr 7, 2023, 11:16 PM
2 points
3 comments1 min readLW link

Was Homer a stochas­tic par­rot? Mean­ing in liter­ary texts and LLMs

Bill BenzonApr 13, 2023, 4:44 PM
7 points
4 comments3 min readLW link

How Large Lan­guage Models Nuke our Naive No­tions of Truth and Reality

Sean LeeApr 17, 2023, 6:08 PM
0 points
23 comments11 min readLW link

Cy­berE­con­omy. The Limits to Growth

Timur SadekovFeb 13, 2025, 11:26 AM
1 point
0 comments23 min readLW link

Ob­jec­tive truth?

pchvykovFeb 15, 2021, 9:47 PM
1 point
0 comments2 min readLW link

Net­works of Meaning

Erich_GrunewaldApr 17, 2021, 7:30 AM
21 points
1 comment10 min readLW link
(www.erichgrunewald.com)

Truth-Seek­ing: Rea­son vs. Intuition

sakrafSep 30, 2022, 12:12 PM
4 points
7 comments4 min readLW link

Re­quest for com­ment on a novel refer­ence work of understanding

enderAug 12, 2021, 12:06 AM
3 points
0 comments9 min readLW link

How to dis­cover the na­ture of sen­tience, and ethics

Gustavo RamiresSep 11, 2024, 5:22 PM
−2 points
4 comments5 min readLW link

Hon­est sci­ence is spirituality

pchvykovJul 1, 2024, 8:33 PM
−1 points
10 comments4 min readLW link

How truth­ful is GPT-3? A bench­mark for lan­guage models

Owain_EvansSep 16, 2021, 10:09 AM
58 points
24 comments6 min readLW link

Book Re­view: All I Want To Know Is Where I’m Go­ing To Die So I’ll Never Go There

AnmoljainOct 13, 2021, 3:46 AM
3 points
2 comments46 min readLW link

Truth­ful AI: Devel­op­ing and gov­ern­ing AI that does not lie

Oct 18, 2021, 6:37 PM
82 points
9 comments10 min readLW link

Con­cep­tual co­her­ence for con­crete cat­e­gories in hu­mans and LLMs

Bill BenzonDec 9, 2023, 11:49 PM
13 points
1 comment2 min readLW link

Re­la­tion­ships among words, met­al­in­gual defi­ni­tion, and interpretability

Bill BenzonJun 7, 2024, 7:18 PM
2 points
0 comments5 min readLW link

Wittgen­stein and the Pri­vate Lan­guage Argument

TMFOWMar 24, 2024, 8:06 PM
4 points
0 comments14 min readLW link
(tmfow.substack.com)

The Im­pos­si­bil­ity of a Ra­tional In­tel­li­gence Optimizer

Nicolas VillarrealJun 6, 2024, 4:14 PM
−9 points
5 comments14 min readLW link

Do we have the right kind of math for roles, goals and mean­ing?

mrcbarbierOct 22, 2022, 9:28 PM
13 points
5 comments7 min readLW link

A ba­sic lex­i­con of telic concepts

mrcbarbierOct 22, 2022, 9:28 PM
2 points
0 comments3 min readLW link

Mean­ingful things are those the uni­verse pos­sesses a se­man­tics for

Abhimanyu Pallavi SudhirDec 12, 2022, 4:03 PM
16 points
14 comments14 min readLW link

Re­cent ad­vances in Nat­u­ral Lan­guage Pro­cess­ing—Some Woolly spec­u­la­tions (2019 es­say on se­man­tics and lan­guage mod­els)

philosophybearDec 27, 2022, 2:11 AM
1 point
0 comments7 min readLW link

Five Rea­sons to Lie

DzoldzayaJan 17, 2023, 4:53 PM
0 points
19 comments3 min readLW link

Truth­ful LMs as a warm-up for al­igned AGI

Jacob_HiltonJan 17, 2022, 4:49 PM
65 points
14 comments13 min readLW link

Knowl­edge Base 7: Long-tail knowl­edge and col­lec­tive intelligence

iwisApr 18, 2024, 2:21 PM
−6 points
0 comments1 min readLW link

Col­lab­o­ra­tive Truth-Seeking

Gleb_TsipurskyMay 4, 2016, 11:28 PM
21 points
17 comments6 min readLW link

Per­son­hood is a Reli­gious Belief

jan SijanMay 3, 2023, 4:16 PM
−42 points
28 comments6 min readLW link

A sim­ple sketch of how re­al­ism be­came unpopular

Rob BensingerOct 11, 2019, 10:25 PM
63 points
55 comments4 min readLW link