The Search for Truth (general)

**RemagDiv** · 10/02/2006 18:41:06

“Truth is not organized into a set body of knowledge, but rather it must be continually and systematically examined and re-learned.”

        What is truth? How do you define truth? There are many meanings to this small word, and if you look in the dictionary, you will see the many different meanings it has literally. But can truth really be sought after and found? The truth for one individual may not be the same truth for a separate individual. In this way, we can believe that any and all truth in this world is subjective. So then is it possible to learn truth at all? This is my overall attitude towards the above quote, and how it can be interpreted. We cannot fully learn truth, because it is not organized universally in the same meaning. However, we can search for truth and understand the many different beliefs and levels of this, by re-examining and re-learning the many principles, but still not knowing ultimately the full truth or perhaps any truth at all.

        Before we being to search for the truth, we must ask ourselves if we can even find an ultimate truth in the first place. To be human is to search, learn, teach, and act. We are a being that strives to know as much as we can, it is our nature to question each and everything we come across. No single definition of truth can be agreed on by scholars, and numerous theories of truth continue to be widely debated. Differing opinions exist on such questions as what constitutes truth, how to define and identify truth, what roles do revealed and acquired knowledge play, and whether truth is subjective, relative, objective, or absolute. For instance, ask anyone “is it true that the sky is blue?” For the most part, the answer will be “yes”, but can we be absolutely certain that the sky is really blue? What if our eyes are deceiving us? What if a human was to only be allowed outside during the evening, then this person’s truth would be that the sky is not blue, but black.

        For the sake of this argument, let’s say we can learn a universal truth(s). How do we go about this? By studying numerous amounts of text? Perhaps, but I feel truth is more easily obtained by experiencing it first hand. Truth is subjective because it depends on each individual’s own experiences, learning, beliefs, and upbringing. Is it true that the United States is an evil empire? No, but children in the Middle East are grown up believing in this, and to them it is the pure truth. This is why I feel we can truly never learn a definite truth and then leave it be. We must continually evaluate and search in ourselves the meaning of truth; to continually re-learn the truth of a single topic.

        There are many different types of truth: Scientific, religious, mathematical. Scientific truth is physical truth that establishes what we can explain in this world by using the scientific method. Many scientists will agree that anything that passes the scientific method is absolutely true and it is true because it can be tested and done multiple times and still come out with the same outcome. Religious truth is mostly based on the dealings of faith and spiritual entities. So while we can never successfully test if there is truly a God, we can believe in a God and have faith. This is why many scientists do not believe in the existence of such a powerful entity because it can not be tested and proven, as they only go for an absolute truth.

        To sum up the first part of the quote, we cannot learn a single, ultimate truth. We cannot take a class about truth and learn what is true and what is not true, because truth is not organized into a set body of knowledge, like mathematics, business policy, accounting, etc. We must open our mind and continue to discover the different ideals of truth, and to come to the conclusion that perhaps it is humanly impossible to ever be aware of the ultimate truth, but that does not mean we can’t try, because like I said, to be human is to search, learn, teach, and act.

**Othinn1**

Remag_Div wrote:

Differing opinions exist on such questions as what constitutes truth, how to define and identify truth, what roles do revealed and acquired knowledge play, and whether truth is subjective, relative, objective, or absolute. For instance, ask anyone “is it true that the sky is blue?” For the most part, the answer will be “yes”, but can we be absolutely certain that the sky is really blue? What if our eyes are deceiving us? What if a human was to only be allowed outside during the evening, then this person’s truth would be that the sky is not blue, but black.

Perception, and its relation to truth, is an interesting thing. In bee hives, there are certain bees referred to as "undertakers". Their job is to remove dead bees from the hive. When bees die, they give off oleic acid, which triggers the "remove it" behavior in the undertaker bees.

Supposedly, if you dab a live bee with oleic acid, the undertaker bees will haul the live-and-struggling bee out of the hive, ignoring any evidence that the bee is still alive.

**ShiXinFeng**

Hmm, I have to disagree, Remag. What you're actually talking about, philosophically, is perception. No one can grasp fully another's perception of what their truth is.

But, there are truths that are universal. There is no air in deep space. The sky would is blue, and it does not matter if not a single human being walked the planet. It is human nature to take from one another, by force if necessary, and nothing will ever change that. Change is constant.

We can perceive all these things in our own way. The sky isn't exactly blue. There could be areas of space that contain air that we simply don't know about. Our perceptions are guided by our rearing, our influences, our parents' genetics and our environment. But the fundamental truths remain unchallenged. For the time being.

**RemagDiv**

So then if it's perception, how do we know our perception isn't lying to us? Thus nothing we perceive is true.

**AqueousRei**

You don't know. "I think therefore I am" is about the only thing one can agree to with any real certainty.

RainKingX

Remag_Div wrote:

“Truth is not organized into a set body of knowledge, but rather it must be continually and systematically examined and re-learned.”

        What is truth? How do you define truth? There are many meanings to this small word, and if you look in the dictionary, you will see the many different meanings it has literally. But can truth really be sought after and found? The truth for one individual may not be the same truth for a separate individual. In this way, we can believe that any and all truth in this world is subjective. So then is it possible to learn truth at all? This is my overall attitude towards the above quote, and how it can be interpreted. We cannot fully learn truth, because it is not organized universally in the same meaning. However, we can search for truth and understand the many different beliefs and levels of this, by re-examining and re-learning the many principles, but still not knowing ultimately the full truth or perhaps any truth at all.

        Before we being to search for the truth, we must ask ourselves if we can even find an ultimate truth in the first place. To be human is to search, learn, teach, and act. We are a being that strives to know as much as we can, it is our nature to question each and everything we come across. No single definition of truth can be agreed on by scholars, and numerous theories of truth continue to be widely debated. Differing opinions exist on such questions as what constitutes truth, how to define and identify truth, what roles do revealed and acquired knowledge play, and whether truth is subjective, relative, objective, or absolute. For instance, ask anyone “is it true that the sky is blue?” For the most part, the answer will be “yes”, but can we be absolutely certain that the sky is really blue? What if our eyes are deceiving us? What if a human was to only be allowed outside during the evening, then this person’s truth would be that the sky is not blue, but black.

        For the sake of this argument, let’s say we can learn a universal truth(s). How do we go about this? By studying numerous amounts of text? Perhaps, but I feel truth is more easily obtained by experiencing it first hand. Truth is subjective because it depends on each individual’s own experiences, learning, beliefs, and upbringing. Is it true that the United States is an evil empire? No, but children in the Middle East are grown up believing in this, and to them it is the pure truth. This is why I feel we can truly never learn a definite truth and then leave it be. We must continually evaluate and search in ourselves the meaning of truth; to continually re-learn the truth of a single topic.

        There are many different types of truth: Scientific, religious, mathematical. Scientific truth is physical truth that establishes what we can explain in this world by using the scientific method. Many scientists will agree that anything that passes the scientific method is absolutely true and it is true because it can be tested and done multiple times and still come out with the same outcome. Religious truth is mostly based on the dealings of faith and spiritual entities. So while we can never successfully test if there is truly a God, we can believe in a God and have faith. This is why many scientists do not believe in the existence of such a powerful entity because it can not be tested and proven, as they only go for an absolute truth.

        To sum up the first part of the quote, we cannot learn a single, ultimate truth. We cannot take a class about truth and learn what is true and what is not true, because truth is not organized into a set body of knowledge, like mathematics, business policy, accounting, etc. We must open our mind and continue to discover the different ideals of truth, and to come to the conclusion that perhaps it is humanly impossible to ever be aware of the ultimate truth, but that does not mean we can’t try, because like I said, to be human is to search, learn, teach, and act.

Actually, we do take a class on truth. Most people call it: life. The trick is to know when you're dealing with a universal truth and a subjective one. An even bigger trick, is to know it's not a trick. SMILEY

**RemagDiv**

AqueousRei wrote:

You don't know. "I think therefore I am" is about the only thing one can agree to with any real certainty.

Heck, even that's open to debate, but that's getting nitpicky. SMILEY

**AqueousRei**

Remag_Div wrote:

AqueousRei wrote:
You don't know. "I think therefore I am" is about the only thing one can agree to with any real certainty.

Heck, even that's open to debate, but that's getting nitpicky.

Really? This was maybe the only Philosphical statement I openly agreed with right away, and I have yet to see a valid challenge.

EVEN IF you take the matrix as an example, or the men in black super small galaxy in a galaxy with an alien controlling you like the wizard of OZ...

My personal experience beyond deception would tell me that a thought, even if controlled, is an action of exsistance. I don't see how that can be denied. Any thought is a confirmation of existance to something, even if the thought itself is not real.