Chapter One
§10. The ambiguity of the question of truth: the search for what is true—reflection on the essence of truth.
Let us begin with a simple reflection. It will lead into a historical reflection, and this in turn will allow the unfolding of the question of truth to become a reflection on its necessity and its unique character.
The question of truth asks about “truth.” The question is so straightforward that foundational deliberations regarding the question of truth might appear superfluous. To raise the question of truth surely means to seek the truth. And that means to seek what is true, or, according to what has been clarified above, to establish and ascertain what is correct about things and about all beings, whereby the correct is to be understood primarily in the sense of aims and standards to which all our actions and behavior conform. To raise the question of “truth” means to seek the true.
But “the true,” here being sought, certainly signifies more than just any correct statements about any objects whatever. We are seeking more than mere particular instructions for correct action. The true to which we give that name, and which we perhaps more desire than seek, also does not mean merely the sum of all correct statements and instructions for correct action. To seek the true means to pursue what is correct in the sense of that