Wahrheit

Wahrheit is the German noun for truth. It denotes the property of conforming to fact or reality, and it also expresses honesty in speech or belief. In everyday language it can refer to factual accuracy (the truth of a statement) as well as to sincerity (the truthfulness of a person). The word derives from a Germanic root meaning "true" combined with the abstract noun suffix -heit.

In philosophy, Wahrheit is central to theories of truth. The classical correspondence theory holds that a proposition is true if it corresponds to the facts or to how the world is. The coherence theory treats truth as consistency among a system of beliefs. Pragmatic theories tie truth to the usefulness or success of ongoing action. Deflationary or minimalist theories view truth as a linguistic device, often formalized by the T-schema: "P is true if and only if P." In formal contexts, Tarski's semantic theory provides a precise account of truth conditions for sentences of a formal language.

Historically in German thought, the notion has been discussed by Kant, Hegel, and later by figures such as Nietzsche and Heidegger. Kant linked truth to the conditions of possible experience, while Heidegger explored truth as unconcealment (aletheia) within his broader phenomenology. German usage also maintains a distinction between Wahrheit (truth) and Wahrhaftigkeit (truthfulness or sincerity).