Truth and truthfulness as a subject of historical, ethical, and pedagogical reflection

The relevance of the topic is motivated by the need to understand the problem of educating students with the truth and in the truth, the solution of which depends in particular on the teacher's knowledge of the content of the concepts of «truth» and «truthfulness». The authors of the article understand the content of the concepts of «truth» and «truthfulness», referring to the descriptions of the corresponding lexemes in the dictionaries of the Russian and French languages, to the interpretation of the concepts present in a few specialized dictionaries, and also taking into account the functioning of the concepts in modern scientific and classical ethical and philosophical texts. It is shown that ethicists use the concept of «truth» in the meanings of the principle of morality, value, order of being and human relations; the concept of «truthfulness» – in the meanings of moral quality and quality of the soul (virtue), human characteristics, moral rules, and values. The essence of the value conflict inherent in the situation of «lies out of necessity» or «lies for salvation» is explained. As a result of understanding the ideas of thinkers and philosophers of Ancient Greece about truth and truthfulness, it is revealed that Hesiod and Orpheus use the word «truth» as a proper name – the name of the goddess Dike (Truth) to denote justice and retribution, order in nature and the seasons; Heraclitus – in the meaning of fair retribution, justice; Parmenides – justice; Protagoras – virtue; Plato – good; Aristotle – sentence and retribution. Plato uses the word «truthfulness» in the meaning of the ability to commit an act; Aristotle – virtue. Knowledge of the content of the concepts «truth» and «truthfulness» is important for the theory of education in the part related to the substantiation of the cultural content of education by truth and in truth, for the practice of education – in the part related not only to the definition, but also to the development of methods of education by truth. The authors insist that one of such methods of education by truth and in truth should be the method of practical moral instructions, in particular, contained in the sayings of the Seven Sages of Antiquity, in the exhortatory works of the Stoa and other classical judgments on the proper life.