Absolute Truth Essay
True or false, probably a term most people are familiar with. Such a thing seems quite simple to comprehend, however determining whether something is true or not isn’t the easiest of tasks. In order to determine if something is false, we must first establish what the truth is. The knowledge issue this brings up is: How do we know if absolute truth exists, and if it doesn’t what type of truth does exist? This is dependent on our perception of the situation and our ability to reason out a conclusion. For this essay I will use science, mathematics, religion and ethics as my areas of knowledge. I will present both aspects of this statement and conclude with my own point of view.
Firstly, let’s examine why it can be deemed true but before we do that we must define what truth really is. Truth can be defined as conformity to reality or actuality and in order for something to be “true” it must be public, eternal, and independent. If the “truth” does not follow these guidelines then it cannot be “true.” Obviously in contrary anything that goes against the boundaries of “truth” is inevitably false. To say that there is no absolute distinction between true and false makes one agree with a relativist point of view. Relativism is the idea that any point of view has no absolute truth or validity; it is the belief that they have only relative, subjective values, according to differences in perception and reason. (Bartlett, Jack) If we look deeper into this saying we can concur that anything that we take to be true is reversible. We can never have a ‘god’s-eye’ view of the universe, all truths are a matter of opinion. Truth is relative to culture, historical epoch, language, and society etc. All the truths that we know are subjective truths (i.e. mind-dependent truths) and there is nothing more to truth than what we are willing to assert as true (Hammerton, Matthew). To reason these thoughts let us look at an area of knowledge-ethics. Ethical relativism represents the
Firstly, let’s examine why it can be deemed true but before we do that we must define what truth really is. Truth can be defined as conformity to reality or actuality and in order for something to be “true” it must be public, eternal, and independent. If the “truth” does not follow these guidelines then it cannot be “true.” Obviously in contrary anything that goes against the boundaries of “truth” is inevitably false. To say that there is no absolute distinction between true and false makes one agree with a relativist point of view. Relativism is the idea that any point of view has no absolute truth or validity; it is the belief that they have only relative, subjective values, according to differences in perception and reason. (Bartlett, Jack) If we look deeper into this saying we can concur that anything that we take to be true is reversible. We can never have a ‘god’s-eye’ view of the universe, all truths are a matter of opinion. Truth is relative to culture, historical epoch, language, and society etc. All the truths that we know are subjective truths (i.e. mind-dependent truths) and there is nothing more to truth than what we are willing to assert as true (Hammerton, Matthew). To reason these thoughts let us look at an area of knowledge-ethics. Ethical relativism represents the
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