The Truth = Reality Outside Consciousness
Editorial verification status: this atom was extracted from an explanatory audiovisual source, and it has now been linked to the closest books within Shahrur’s project at the book level. For precise academic citation, consult the original book and the original episode together.
Formulation of the claim
Shahrur defines “the truth” as the actual thing that exists in fact, not merely a correct statement. Speech may be true or false, but truth in its original sense is reality itself.
Explanation
He uses the example of human speech to clarify the difference between the act and its description. The speech uttered by a human may correspond to reality or fail to correspond to it, whereas “truth” comes before any judgment about it. In this way, he expands the meaning of truth from the moral or linguistic domain to the ontological domain. He thereby makes the Qur’an a discourse about reality, not about words alone.
Its place in the argument of the episode
This atom strengthens his definition of existence and links it to knowledge: there is no knowledge without distinguishing reality from description.
Limits of the claim
Here he does not present a complete linguistic theory of “truth” in all of its Qur’anic usages.
Brief evidence
“Truth in the sense that it is real, actual.”
Nearby links
- Shahrur - The Qur’an
- Shahrur - Testimony
- Shahrur - Righteous Deed