In my last article about truth, I said that the next article would talk about some other definitions of truth. But, I began to have doubts about my previous article. I had essentially said that truth and reality were synonyms. “Ok, so what?” you may be thinking. However, the problem is that reality is synonymous with another special word: existence.

“If truth is reality, does that mean truth is existence?” I thought to myself. “Truth is existence” sounded wrong to me, but I felt obliged to look into the issue further in order to aid my exploration of truth.

Polysemy?

Since truth and reality are synonyms, and reality and existence are also synonyms, doesn’t that mean that truth and existence have the same or similar meanings? Not necessarily. Because reality could be polysemic.

Even though “polysemic”¹By the way, a common variant of polysemic is polysemous. sounds like the word for multiple epidemics,²I believe the proper word for multiple epidemics would actually be “polyepidemic.” Ooo! It looks like it might be legit! it’s actually the term for a word that has multiple related meanings.

“The complex relations between meanings and words were first noted by the Stoics. They observed that a single concept can be expressed by several different words (synonymy) and that conversely, one word can carry different meanings (polysemy).”

Yael Ravin and Claudia Leacock in Polysemy: Theoretical and Computational Approaches

A polysemic mug

I’ll use the polysemic word “mug” as an example. Cup is a synonym of mug if we’re talking about a round container for drinking. While mug is a synonym of thug if we’re talking about a guy who probably wants to beat you up. However, cup and thug are not synonyms. They’re barely even related! (Except in a story where a cup came to life and became a thug…)

The diagram below illustrates how mug means two different things. Cup matches with mug in one sense (shown by the double-sided arrow), but in another sense (shown by the split in mug’s word bubble) it doesn’t.

What about reality?

But is reality polysemic? Let’s take a look!

On the Merriam Webster’s Thesaurus page for reality, truth is one of reality’s synonyms in the sense of facts, or, “the quality of being actual.” Existence is also listed as a synonym of reality but in the sense of “the fact of being or of being real.” As you can see, reality has two different definitions that match up with two different words. 

This second diagram, similar to the previous one, shows how while reality is one word, it has two different meanings. The rock depicts how reality can speak of the realness of a rock. And the atom represents how reality also speaks of the nature of existence.

So, yes, reality is polysemic. And that means that truth and existence aren’t necessarily related. (My qualms about the last article are put to rest.)

“something is going on here”

Oftentimes, however, the various meanings of polysemous words are generally related. This means there could still be a connection between the meanings of truth and existence. After all, if you look at the definitions on multiple different online dictionaries, you’ll find that all of the definitions say that reality speaks of something being real, as opposed to being imaginary; true, as opposed to being false; or existing, as opposed to being nothing at all.

Obviously, something is going on here. But that’s another article and shall be published another time.³This is a reference to a repeated sentence—”But that’s another story and shall be told another time.”—in Michael Ende’s book, The NeverEnding Story.

Notes

• 1
  By the way, a common variant of polysemic is polysemous.
• 2
  I believe the proper word for multiple epidemics would actually be “polyepidemic.” Ooo! It looks like it might be legit!
• 3
  This is a reference to a repeated sentence—”But that’s another story and shall be told another time.”—in Michael Ende’s book, The NeverEnding Story.

Notes

• 1
  By the way, a common variant of polysemic is polysemous.
• 2
  I believe the proper word for multiple epidemics would actually be “polyepidemic.” Ooo! It looks like it might be legit!
• 3
  This is a reference to a repeated sentence—”But that’s another story and shall be told another time.”—in Michael Ende’s book, The NeverEnding Story.