sandheden

Sandheden, in Danish, means “the truth” and is used to describe statements or beliefs that accurately reflect reality or are justified by evidence. In Danish discourse, as in other languages, sandheden is a central concept across philosophy, science, law, journalism, and everyday life.

In philosophy, truth has been approached through several major theories. The correspondence theory holds that truth is a matter of how well a statement matches facts or states of affairs. The coherence theory sees truth as the coherence of a claim with a larger system of beliefs. The pragmatic theory equates truth with what proves useful or successful in guiding action. A deflationary or semantic approach treats truth as a minimal, non-substantive property used to endorse or assert sentences. The semantic theory of truth, associated with Tarski, analyzes truth for formal languages and draws explicit distinctions between truth, assertion, and reference.

In practice, scientific and legal contexts treat truth as provisional or contextual. Scientific claims are judged true to the extent that they are well-supported by evidence and reproducible results. Legal truth is established through procedures, testimony, and standards of proof, which may yield different results from common-sense truth in other settings.

Contemporary debates address misinformation, post-truth politics, and the sociology of truth, exploring how institutions, media, and power influence what is accepted as true. In Danish culture, sandheden appears in everyday speech, journalism, and philosophical discussion, reflecting the enduring interest in knowledge, justification, and the limits of certainty. See also epistemology, truth conditions, and justification.