Abstract

The discussion of the value of knowledge started from the time man discovered the existence of errors in some of his thoughts and observed some epistemological contradictions among thinkers. However, the issue of the value of knowledge is one of the most basic dicussions in epistemology which divides the people of the truth and knowledge into different groups after passing over the border lines of sophism and acknowledging the principle of reality.One of the problems of the value of knowledge is the criterion for knowledge or defining the concepts of right and wrong, which has been discussed in the first chapter. The issue of the "essence of right and wrong" has been under extensive scrutiny during the last two centuries.Some epistemologists agree with the traditional definition, that is, the theory of correspondence, and some others have questioned its foundations and posed other theories such as the theories of harmony, pragmatism, semantics, relativity, and reductionism.The second chapter is devoted to the description, explanation, and criticism of the theory of correspondence, which is the most important of all theories of truth.In the third chapter, some of the defects of the theory of correspondence are disussed and a number of objections which are raised against this theory by some philosophers are presented. In the same chapter, reference has been made to the numerous responses provided by Allameh Tabatabai and the one suggested by Mulla Sadra on the difference between the primary predication and the common predication.Finally, the responses provided by some philosophers such as the one by Mirdamad in Talighat and the one by Ibn Sina in Sharh-e Esharat are pointed out.