What would happen to the world if truth as it is understood today became recognized by the masses as a relative concept which would make certain things, values, beliefs and ideas truth and false at the same time?
The truth is already a very complicated concept as applied to the world and even the mind. We tend to forget things and at the moment they are not longer truth in our reality. Nevertheless, the forgotten are still truth because they correspond to some fact from the past. Alfred Tarski famously presented the problem that the idea itself of defining truth independent of anything is a problematic notion.
It is, in fact, difficult to define truth as an independent factor. One must always seek aid in material or immaterial examples. Four theories of truth exist. The minimalist theory simple states that true is redundant and does not add anything to a statement. The other three seem to be different components of one theory.
First, there is the pragmatic theory of truth which establishes that in order for something to be truth, that something must be useful. This seems to raise the question of ‘for whom must it be useful?’ Here is the first point of relativity. If in order for anything to be truth, this must be useful, one might ask what about the beliefs that are useful for some people to hold yet for others are a complete waste of time. Does this mean such beliefs are both true and false? Certainly not, I hope. This means that truth is relative to whoever holds a belief.
The coherence theory of truth dictates that true beliefs and propositions are those which correspond to the rest of the beliefs we hold. This simply cannot apply to life as we know it. It is absurd to think that one cannot hold any beliefs if these do not correspond to the other beliefs one already has. In the end, however, this applies to the theory I am advocating: relativity. In order to hold a certain belief as true at a precise moment in time one only needs to disregard the beliefs that do not cohere with it at that instant. Thus, that one belief would be truth relative to the point in time in which it is held as well as relative to what beliefs does it correspond to. While it is possible to hold beliefs that do not make sense together and which can be held as true at different times, it is not possible for different people to hold the same belief and have it be both true and false, which is what this theory seems to imply. A belief that is both true and false is, however, also possible under different circumstances.
Finally, the most widely accepted theory of truth: correspondence. This theory states that truth is that which as expressed corresponds to a fact in the world. To complicate matters, through this theory truth can be not only applied to beliefs and immaterial entities, but also to physical objects. Truth, then, becomes relative to reality whether this reality is an object or a belief. Although this theory seems very strong, there are also problems with it. Propositions and beliefs can correspond to facts in the world, but there are also those sorts of beliefs held by millions which do not conform in any sense to a fact, such beliefs are not accounted for in this theory as well as objects that after having been long disappeared are recovered.
The way I see it, truth as expressed in these three theories is a relative concept. It is relative to its utility in the first place. Meaning it should be useful otherwise we would be allowed to lie, which is also useful, but nonetheless causes problems when the ‘truth’ is discovered. Truth should also correspond to other beliefs, at least at the moment at which a belief is considered. Else it would not make sense to compare a butterfly to a flower based on the fact that someone beliefs them to be both beautiful. Finally, truth should also be relative to the fact in the world to which it corresponds. One cannot say, for example, that the table has legs and that an animal also has legs and consider both to be truth without understanding truth is relative.
Next time someone preaches you the truth, make sure it is relative to what you consider to be so.
xoxo,
Posion Drops
©Copyrighted 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
After Nietzsche:
Supposing Truth to be a woman--then she must be the hottest babe ever, cuz all these geniuses throughout history can't stop talking about her. Truth this, truth that. The end all be all mother of all abstractions. And the rest of us are what, shacking up with Gossip and Bullshit, the Skanks of Babylon? Hell, at least they know how to have a good time. Truth is so high maintenance. Her standards are so high. And she always gotta be right. On top of all that she plays hard to get. She oughtta lighten up, ya know? Be more like her sister, Dare. Now she knows how to party! But who knows, maybe deep down even the pristine Truth has a wild side. Maybe had a lesbian threeway with Karma and Felicity... Dropped some acid back in her experimental college days... Or got caught exposing herself in "Truth Gone Wild" video... Whatever the case may be, you know it's gotta be stranger than fiction.
-T.
This is from one of my favorite comic strip authors. Apart from his amazing artwork, he writes random rants under a collection called "Notes from the Resistance." Although you're in depth look into truth is on a whole nother level, I just thought you might enjoy this. I'll have a reply to this blog after a take another philosophy course. Right now it's like going from regularly drinking water to tequila sin yelo.
Post a Comment