1. Michael Horton (2011, 14-15):
Of course, "reality" is not merely a construction of the will; "truth" is not just a useful lie or clever fiction, as Friedrich Nietzsche thought. However, our apprehension of the truth of reality is always interpreted. For example, at the graveside of a loved one, three people may be grappling with the same reality (i.e. death). However, the first person interprets the event within the narrative of being "dead in Adam" versus having everlasting "life in Christ," while the second person treats it as a liberation of the soul for a (hopefully) higher reincarnation, and the third person might interpret it as no more than the cessation of bodily functions.
2. An interpretation is a truth-claim about a purported fact.
A fact is an actual state of affairs.
An interpretation is true if the truth-claim corresponds to the fact.
An interpretation is false if the truth-claim does not correspond to the fact.
If the purported fact is not factual, then the state of affairs is non-actual.
All truth-claims about a non-factual as if it is an actual state of affair are false.
3. Thus, there is one way for an interpretation to be true:
The truth-claim corresponds to the fact.
There are two ways for an interpretation to be false:
(a) The purported fact is factual but the truth-claim does not correspond to the fact; or
(b) The purported fact is non-factual.
4. All truths are propositional.
That is, only a proposition is the bearer of truth or falsity.
Since an interpretation is a truth-claim, it is therefore also a proposition.
The claim that:
(A) An interpretation is true if the truth-claim corresponds to the fact.
is equivalent to the claim that:
(B) A proposition is true if its corresponding state of affairs is actual.
But the claim that:
(C) An interpretation is false if the truth-claim does not correspond to the fact.
is not equivalent to the claim that:
(D) A proposition is false if its corresponding state of affairs is non-actual.
This is because a fact is an actual state of affairs.
But all four propositions (A), (B), (C) and (D) are true.
5. Horton's statement that "our apprehension of the truth of reality is always interpreted" is trivially true because an interpretation is a truth-claim about a purported fact (= reality or actual state of affairs).
"Truth of reality" is a true truth-claim.
6. Fact: A human person died physically.
Interpretation 1: A person who died physically but believe in Jesus Christ will have everlasting life; otherwise everlasting death.
Interpretation 2: A person who died physically has his soul liberated for higher reincarnation.
Interpretation 3: A person who died physically has ceased all bodily functions, and nothing more.
There is one fact but three interpretations of that fact.
Although the three interpretations are meant to be mutually exclusive, they do not exhaust all possibilities.
So it is logically possible that all three interpretations are false.
But a Bible believing Christian believes Interpretation 1 to be true and the other two false.
A Bible believing Christian believes Interpretation 2 is false because reincarnation is non-factual.
All truth-claims about a non-factual as if it is an actual state of affair are false.
A Bible believing Christian believes Interpretation 3 is false because although physical death implies the cessation of bodily functions, it is more than just the cessation of bodily functions.
7. Michael Horton (2011, 15):
No less than Christianity, Marxism and capitalism, democracy and totalitarianism, feminism and fascism are stories that involve personal commitment. It's not that there are only interpretations (stories) and no facts (truths), but that there are no uninterpreted facts.
8. Horton's clause that "it's not that there are only interpretations (stories) and no facts (truths)" is a curious one.
Truths (or propositions) and facts (or actual states of affairs) belong to different ontological categories.
Interpretations are truth-claims about purported facts.
It is very curious to either oppose interpretations with truths or equate facts with truths.
To be interpretations, I suppose "stories" are a series of truth-claims.
Reference:
Horton, Michael. 2011. The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims On the Way. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan.
End.
