Practical Truth

Abstract Aristotle argues that the actions central to human flourishing are those that involve reason. But reason manifests itself in a human life in more than one way. We employ reason to investigate what there is (theoretical reason). We also employ reason when we determine what to do (practical reason). Aristotle’s elucidation of practical reason involves the introduction of a distinctive practical way of being true. But practical truth, which he describes as truth in agreement with right desire, is notoriously difficult to understand. The essays in this collection concern both the history of practical truth throughout the intervening centuries and the role it currently plays in contemporary ethics and action theory. This volume’s animating conviction is that practical truth is crucial to our understanding of practical reason, practical knowledge, and human action more generally.