THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE ESSAY
“Context is all” (Margaret Atwood) Does this mean there is no such thing as truth?
Word Count: 1548 words
"There is no such thing as inaccuracy in a photograph. All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth."[1] This aphoristic statement of Richard Avidon creates ripples of doubt in even the most believing minds.
Truth knows dimensions beyond a single person’s imagination. Ancient wisdom tells us ‘to each his own’. It could well be
speaking of truth. Many a great thinker has tried to explain and justify truth as they have seen it. To Mahatma Gandhi, truth
was God and truth alone can lead to knowledge. According to John Keats aestheticism was all which can be perceived in his
statement,
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”[2]
So when the context changes from that of a philosopher to that of a poet the definition of truth changes.
Truth is almost a mirror image of reality—true and yet not, in all senses of the word. To a three year old, Santa Claus is a friendly, gift-giving figure; to a ten year old it’s his father dressed in a Santa suit, and to a forty year old who enacts Santa at the local stores, its livelihood. Truth, like beauty lies in the eye of the beholder and as per Friedrich Nietzsche, “There are many kinds of eyes…and consequently many kinds of “truths”, and consequently there is no truth.”[3]
The correspondence theory of truth explains that truth is fact based. Something does not become truth because somebody says so but because it matches reality. But the reality also changes when the context changes. So this again cannot be termed as... [continues]
“Context is all” (Margaret Atwood) Does this mean there is no such thing as truth?
Word Count: 1548 words
"There is no such thing as inaccuracy in a photograph. All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth."[1] This aphoristic statement of Richard Avidon creates ripples of doubt in even the most believing minds.
Truth knows dimensions beyond a single person’s imagination. Ancient wisdom tells us ‘to each his own’. It could well be
speaking of truth. Many a great thinker has tried to explain and justify truth as they have seen it. To Mahatma Gandhi, truth
was God and truth alone can lead to knowledge. According to John Keats aestheticism was all which can be perceived in his
statement,
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”[2]
So when the context changes from that of a philosopher to that of a poet the definition of truth changes.
Truth is almost a mirror image of reality—true and yet not, in all senses of the word. To a three year old, Santa Claus is a friendly, gift-giving figure; to a ten year old it’s his father dressed in a Santa suit, and to a forty year old who enacts Santa at the local stores, its livelihood. Truth, like beauty lies in the eye of the beholder and as per Friedrich Nietzsche, “There are many kinds of eyes…and consequently many kinds of “truths”, and consequently there is no truth.”[3]
The correspondence theory of truth explains that truth is fact based. Something does not become truth because somebody says so but because it matches reality. But the reality also changes when the context changes. So this again cannot be termed as... [continues]
Cite This Essay
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(2008, 11). “Cont Is All”. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 11, 2008, from http://www.studymode.com/essays/Cont-All-182624.html
- MLA
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"“Cont Is All”" StudyMode.com. 11 2008. 11 2008 <http://www.studymode.com/essays/Cont-All-182624.html>.
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"“Cont Is All”." StudyMode.com. 11, 2008. Accessed 11, 2008. http://www.studymode.com/essays/Cont-All-182624.html.
