What is truth?
Posted by Kyran Luhrs on November 6, 2009
What is the nature of truth?
We use the word so much, but does anyone really know what it means?
Is it fact? Well, then what is fact? If it is what I can see, touch, taste, and hear, then things like x-rays and atoms where not ‘true’ until very recently.
Is it just agreed apon ideas? Then truth can change with society and it is not the concreate base we like to think it is.
Is it something more than we humans can comprehend? Then why do we use the word in every day conversation?
Please, post your thoughts on the subject, I am very curious of what you think.
–Kyran Luhrs, Founder of the Ivory Tower
RichardC said
What is Truth? Easy, and very Aristotelian: Truth is that which is eternal. It’s the consequences of that definition that are problematic. How can we tell what is eternal? It’s back to the Platonic distinction between the phenomena and the noumena — things as they appear and things as they are. And this in turn takes us into the realms of Kant and Kierkegaarde — the objective as opposed to the subjective, the a priori versus the existential.
You say you want to change the World. OK, that can be a very laudable … provided you have a clear idea of what the World is, and what it should be … and are right. You seem to have set yourself quite a goal, but I don’t see that you have a clear idea what you are up to yet. You need to define the problems, show why these are the problems, etc., first.
OK, we agree that ignorance is a problem. Is it really the worst of the problems we face? Prejudice is in a real sense a by-product of ignorance. But, prejudice in one’s eyes may be informed opinion in another’s, and incontrovertible Truth to yet another. Who determines Truth? How does one hold such authority.
Game theory says the best results are obtained when we cooperate. OK. But, it also says that there are advantages to “cheating,” both in the individual case and in the collective. In collective terms, those who step outside the accepted rules can help redefine the game and drive “progress.”
I doubt that the World and its problems are as simple as you believe. Still, I’m interested to see you expand on your ideas … so long as you provide a bit more than rhetoric and opinion.