CZARNOCKA’S CONCEPTION OF SYMBOLIC TRUTH
CZARNOCKA’S CONCEPTION OF SYMBOLIC TRUTH

Summary/Abstract: The proposition I elucidate and defend in this paper is that the explanatory power ofMalgorzata Czarnocka’s conception of symbolic truth extends beyond our knowledge ofempirical reality and includes our knowledge of human nature and human values. Thepaper is composed of two parts. In the first part I present a detailed analysis of the conception of symbolic truth. The focus in this analysis is on the nature of the correspondence relation which connects a true statement and the cognitive object. Czarnocka persuasively argues that this relation is neither isomorphic nor homomorphic in character.She advances a detailed analysis of sensual perception as the locus of the cognitive act.The outcome of this analysis is that the structure of the statement which is articulated inthis act does not copy or mirror the structure of the object but is a linguistic representation. In the second part of the paper I argue that empirical reality is not the paradigm ofreality and that scientific knowledge is not the paradigm of knowledge. The domainof humanity is as real as the domain of empirical reality, and our knowledge of thisdomain is as central to our life as scientific knowledge is. Moreover, I argue that Czarnocka’s conception of symbolic truth functions adequately in explaining the possibilityof knowledge of human nature and human values with special focus on the literary workof art.

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