Both need not be distinct. And perhaps they aren't.
According to epistemology there are three basic tests for truth:
a) correspondence: does a statement correctly describe (correspond to)
something that can be perceived out there? For example, 'most plants
require water in order to survive' is a true statement according to this test.
b) coherence: is a statement compatible (coherent) with everything else I
consider to be true? For example, 'I've never seen Jones, but since she's
human I presume she is mortal'.
c) pragmatic: is it useful to accept this statement as being true? For
example, Ockam's Razor.
The three tests are often used simultaneously. A new scientific theory
must describe what's out there, must cohere with the rest of science, and
must 'work' -- be useful -- in the sense of making accurate predictions.
If something is false according to the correspondence or coherence truth
tests, few people would find it useful.
However, some statements simply cannot easily be verified according to the
first two tests. Many statements of NLP are such statements (others _can_
be empirically verified). Of course, should the hard-to-verify ones prove
to be consistently false according to correspondence or coherence, any
reasonable person would chuck them out.
Some people adopt the pragmatic truth test even though they have no
justification, according to correspondence test, to accept a statement as
true. Religious beliefs often fall into that category; they are adopted
because they are considered useful to these people, and because they cohere
with everything else they believe about the world.
Perhaps the ultimate test for truth is the pragmatic. We 'believe' in
perception (the basis for the correspondence test) and in logic (the basis
for the coherence test) because they 'work'. They are useful to us.
Just pointing out that the two ideas, usefulness and truth (either through
correspondence or through coherence), are often hard to separate....
lena
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Lena Rotenberg "Kein Panik auf dem Titanik!"
lrr@netkonnect.net (unknown, deceased author)
Please note: my <hermesnet.net> and <crosslink.net>
addresses will sink shortly!