..reality is a system, completely ordered and fully intelligible, with which thought in its advance is more and more identifying itself. We may look at the growth of knowledge … as an attempt by our mind to return to union with things as they are in their ordered wholeness…. and if we take this view, our notion of truth is marked out for us. Truth is the approximation of thought to reality … Its measure is the distance thought has travelled … toward that intelligible system … The degree of truth of a particular proposition is to be judged in the first instance by its coherence with experience as a whole, ultimately by its coherence with that further whole, all comprehensive and fully articulated, in which thought can come to rest. . Brand Blanshard
About This Quote

Bertrand Russell said, “...reality is a system, completely ordered and fully intelligible, with which thought in its advance is more and more identifying itself.” This quote describes the progression of human knowledge as we know more and more about the complex nature of reality. The idea portrayed by Bertrand Russell is that our knowledge of reality gradually grows through our relationship to other objects in the universe, as well as our relationship to other people. The further our knowledge progresses, the closer it becomes to being wholly intelligible — that is, to being accurate. As this happens, our notion of truth becomes clearer — that is, more accurate. The degree of truth of a particular proposition is to be judged in the first instance by its coherence with experience as a whole — ultimately, by its coherence with that further whole, all comprehensive and fully articulated — in which thought can come to rest.

Source: The Nature Of Thought

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