Truth Cannot be the Criterion by Which Truth is Tested

Abstract

The debate about the criterion of truth has always been closely linked with the battle lines of philosophy. Philosophers of different philosophical lines use different criteria of truth, each of which is consistent with the criterion of truth common to its philosophical line. Idealist philosophies advocate the primacy of thinking [(siwei), implying more the structure or process of thought, as compared to (sixiang), implying a more or less coherent idea, viewpoint, or system, the result of thinking - Tr.] and regard the material world as secondary, believing that human thought and truth are dropped from heaven, or are generated by the subjective consciousness itself. The idealist criterion of truth is sought in thought itself. Idealist philosophers cannot use the criterion of practice because the entire theory of idealism, including its view of truth, is made up wholly of subjective and empty constructs which would not pass the test of practice. If idealist philosophy used the criterion of practi...