...drawn from the question of “what is truth?” It also seems to be that no single take on that question can be deemed as indisputably correct. Whether in search of the meaning of “truth” or of the meaning of “Truth” the discussion will always boil down to there not being clear cut distinction or boundary between true and false. This last statement is applicable to the Liar’s Paradox, where the paradox analyzes the logic behind statements such as “this sentence is a lie;” the contentious point being to try and decipher whether it is true that the sentence is a lie and therefore the sentence is false, or whether the sentence’s being true means that the sentence lies about it itself being a lie and is, in fact, true. It seems less applicable to say that there is not a clear cut boundary between truth and falsehood, however, with such statements as “it is true that the Earth is round.” On the contrary, in this case it seems very clear cut that it is in fact true that the Earth is round. No one can argue otherwise without quickly being shown contradictory proof (barring any sort of infinite regress of truth in the epistemological sense, which is not a practical argument in this sense as that would only dispute that we cannot be aware of truth, not that truth exists or that it is able to be known). The point remains, however, that there are situations in which true and false are not easily discernible. What, then, is it that differentiates the truth of statements such as “this...
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...What is Real Since the beginning of higher thought there has always been an internal struggle within the very depths of man that wondered “What is Real”. For centuries all men have tried to define and analyze this for many different reasons, to predict the future, to know where we came from, to manipulate and control. After all the time that man has been on Earth many different ideas and theories have developed on this topic but this still has been one of the most universally debatable issues. Reality is dependent on each individuals own interpretation of what is real in terms of our sensory experience, personal perceptions, and own individualistic beliefs. Edwin Abbott wrote a great analogy about our dimensional experience in Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. Many subjects are approached in this book but the most interesting was the concept of dimensions. He starts off describing that we live and apply logic in dimensions; the first dimension consists of points that can produce a single line, the points live in the first dimension and therefore cannot grasp the perception of the next dimension. The second dimension consists of moving lines which turns into shapes along two axis’, this dimension can fully understand the first dimension but yet again the next dimension is inconceivable. In the third dimension the same idea is applied, the shapes formed along the second dimension are moved and twisted into, as we perceive it, three dimensional shapes that are multisided...
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...Jasmine Jackson English 101 Spring 2013 Photographs: Truth Compared to What? I always loved the saying that a picture can convey a thousand words, but really a picture can conjure a thousand perspectives depending on the viewer. There are many factors in differentiating what is real in a photograph, or what is spurious. The only common ground that can’t be argued is that the picture exists. Philip Gefter, a picture editor for the New York Times, and author of essay Photographic Icons: Fact, Fiction, or Metaphor states that “ a photographic image might look like actual reality, but graduations of truth are measured in the circumstances that led up to the moment the picture was taken”(#208 ). This reinforces my notion that a photograph is as true as the observer perceiving the image. Whether a picture is spontaneously captured or posed is not pertinent. However photographs of starlets, and celebrities that have been digitally altered, airbrushed, photo-shopped, is completely deceptive. This can be defined using my own term as pseudo-photos. Furthermore the purpose, depth, and essence of a photo is the most important aspect, and these factors can assist in defining the validity of an image. One historical photo of a black woman named Rosa Parks is one with absolute purpose. Parks was instrumental in the civil rights movement for declining to give her seat up to a white male passenger on a city bus in 1955 in Montgomery...
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...What is Truth? Without thinking deeply about it, truth seems like a concrete concept. As children, we learn that everything we do, or say, fits in a box of either true or false. A statement or story is correct, real or genuine and anything else is a lie, deceitful or incorrect. The reality is that some stories do not necessarily fit in those boxes, and truth is more fluid than we learn. The definition given by Merriam Webster is “agreeing with the facts : not false : real or genuine.” Understandably, there are some truths that are irrefutable. It is a fact that the sky is blue, and that we breathe oxygen. Storytelling, however, does not have to be so concrete. I believe that truth can be concrete, fluid or ambiguous in certain situations depending on what the speaker is trying to express. There will always be concrete truth. These are details that are told with such certainty that nothing contradicts it. Those details are the ones we can identify as children. We all learned things about ourselves and the earth that are correct one hundred percent of the time and the authenticity is...
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...Question 1: In your view, what are the three most important mechanisms for applying principles of truth and reconciliation at the local community level? You may wish to revisit the case study on Northern Ireland in Week Seven as support for your arguments. Provide examples to reinforce your main points. Anyone who has suffered from genocide, war crimes, torture, extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances and general crimes against humanity have the right to truth and reconciliation. Establishment of the truth in the case of crimes is absolutely necessary for: Discovering the real information about crimes and their causes to those who were directly affected by the crime (to make their sufferings of people publicly recognized). In addition, establishment of the truth can help to circumvent false accusations; Relatives and friends (of people who are missing or who were killed) in order to find out what really happened to their loved ones, and to establish their whereabouts; The society in which the crimes happened, to know the circumstances and reasons that led to violations, and not to allow to repeat the commitments of such events in the future, to recognize and...
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...instinct for what is true, and usually do arrive at the truth. Hence the man who makes a good guess at truth is likely to make a good guess at probabilities”. Aristotle believes that people will always pick out the truth; the truth will always be revealed. For Aristotle, the truth is straightforward and all truths are logical. “Rhetoric is useful (1) because things that are true and things that are just have a natural tendency to prevail…” The truth will always be logical and you will become better because of it. Plato’s idea of truth, on the other hand, is a little different. He...
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...Truth, in the dictionary, is defined as “a statement proven to be, or accepted as true; a verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle.” This definition alone lends to the idea of there being an absolute truth. Absolut truth is something that is proven and indisputable. Just because it’s proven to be true, however, doesn’t mean that people have to accept it. In Ibsen’s play An Enemy of the People, we see how the method of telling the truth, not the truth itself, can be ignored and twisted based on what one wants to believe. The method for telling the truth in An Enemy of the People is Dr. Stockmann. He has scientific proof that the baths are polluted and causing people to become sick. This is the truth, but we see how people such as the mayor and Hovstad are able to slander the doctor in order to hide the truth. That is the key point. The truth remained the truth throughout the entire play. The actions of the mayor and the other main characters prove that they accepted Dr. Stockmann’s findings as true. They, however, chose to ignore the truth for their own benefit. This leads to the question of: is the truth evaded when it becomes inconvenient? The answer is absolutely yes. While the truth may be absolute, it can be evaded rather easily. A common reason to evade the truth is for self-interest as seen in An Enemy of the People. Hovstad, Billings, and Aslasken were quick to accept the truth when it best suited their plans, but as soon as their business was threatened...
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...Knowledge and Truth Although the quest for knowledge plays a big role in Sophocles' play "Oedipus Rex,” translated by Dudley Fittz and Robert Fitzgerald, the consequences of wanting to know the truth led to an unforeseen exile. Though Oedipus was very dignified, his pursuit for knowledge and truth resulted in ruin as Oedipus uncovered his destiny, which he was better off not knowing. Because Oedipus was a king of great honor; his power prevented him from acknowledging the words of his own people and accepting the truth. Oedipus, once a man of power and wealth, lost all respect creating ramifications that he later endured. The power of truth became the biggest obstacles for Oedipus' character to accept amongst the vigilant kingdom he was living in. Oedipus' was unwilling to see the truth behind his very own prophecy spoken by his kingdom of people, to whom he should have always been willing to listen. He requested to hear the spoken words of Thebes and summoned them to hear, “Children, I would not have you speak through messengers, and therefore I have come myself to hear you— I, Oedipus, who bear the famous name” (Sophocles 3). Not realizing the slander of the town was about him, Oedipus requested to be told the truth spoken throughout his people. Because of his request to hear the truth, Oedipus’ was hit with the truth of his past. He is dignified enough to be told up front with out having to hear through the gossip, however this caused him to hear the truth of his own prophecy...
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...HOW TO DISCERN TRUTH IN THE MIDST OF CULTURAL DISSONANCE & DELUSION Dr. Paul R. Shockley © 30 July 2011 www.prshockley.org One of my overriding rules of conduct, namely, maxims, in my life is to pursue moral and intellectual excellence in my daily life, believing that the “good life” is dynamically related to knowing and practicing that which is true.1 Truth is to shape my character and conduct whereby both desires (inward conformity) and duty (outward obligation) are harmonized into a way of life that not only expresses virtue, but also enables one to both fully live life, free from the entanglements of poor choices, and to discover what others often fail to see. In fact, the ordinary details of life become extraordinary as one looks for truth. Thus, seekers of truth relish not in only in anticipation of a potential future, but also in the present experience as he or she examines, engages, and interacts with expressions, manifestations, and consequences of truth. Naturally, one may ask how I am defining “truth.” Simply put, my definition of truth is that which corresponds to reality, identifies things as they are actually are, can never fail, diminish, change, or be extinguished must be able to be expressed in logical propositions (logical), and is sourced in the God of the Bible who is the Author of all truth. I take it that the truth of a judgment consists in the identity of its content with a fact; it is a “true-truth.” So, when I look at the Grand Canyon, I’m not seeing a...
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...“You know the truth, and the truth is this: some Negroes lie, some Negroes are immoral; some Negro men are not to be trusted around women – black or white. But this is a truth that applies to the human race and to no particular race of men. There is not a person in this courtroom who has never told a lie, who has never done an immoral thing, and there is no man living who has never looked upon a woman without desire"(Shmoop). This quote is from the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. In this literary piece, the search for truth in a judicial setting is the main focus. There are pieces of evidence, moral, and ethical aspects that are revealed in the book. They were used in the search for the truth. Truth is the state of mind of being real or fact. Through the ways of knowing, truth can be found. There are different ways of depicting truth. Through the arts, an artist can express him or herself and show truth through their expression. One form of art is Literature. Literature is a way of reaching truth but is not necessarily the best at “telling the truth”. Truth can also be represented in historical fiction in great literature works such as in To Kill a Mockingbird. Literature is the way that a writer can express him or herself through written language. Some might believe that literature is a more reliable way to find truth. However, there are others who might raise the questions such as “What is literature?” and “Who decides what literature is?” If questions like these...
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...naked truth is always better than a well dressed lie; however, the naked truth may not always be the easiest thing to hear. Finding truth can be a tedious task or an emotional roller coaster to those who are blind(687) to it. Plato discusses this in his Allegory of a Cave. Most people would rather just distance themselves from the truth than to risk finding it; however, it is better to find truth before a big surprise. There are many reasons why few people search for truth and that is because of their narrow-mindedness, self preservation, and laziness. Most people do not search for truth because of their narrow-mindedness. They do not want to be open to new ideas or ideas that challenge their beliefs. Religion is a great example of this....
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...job of blurring the lines of what is true and what is fiction in The Things They Carried. In fact, he often points out that he has made entire stories up, after the fact. He defends his decisions by proposing that what he has done is, in fact, not lie, but rather tell a story-truth. He argues that his reason for doing this is to bring the story to life more than it could live through the happening-truth. 'I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth' (O'Brien, 183). O'Brien believes that, when accompanied by vivid details which essentially make the reader view the scene as a dream, story-truths can carry greater emotional truths than ever possible to be achieved through actual, happening-truths. With this, he shows, contrary to belief, how story-truths are often truer than happening-truths, and demonstrates this through the addition of often graphic details. Happening-truth encompasses actual events that take place. However true these stories may be, they are often times viewed as unreal simply because they have no details to back them up. The entire shit field scene that was put into this book, for example, was turned from a happening-truth into a story-truth because the original version was not believable. The reader can see this through O'Brien describing the letters that he received from Norman Bowker. Norman writes to Tim, telling him that he should write about the event. 'What you should do, Tim, is write...
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...What would you say to me if I told you that I do not believe in “words.” More than likely you are thinking, “Are you kidding me? That is foolish. You don’t believe in words? Come on! That is ridiculous!” Everyone believes that words exist. It would be foolish to pull out a dictionary and to try to prove to the person that makes such a claim that words exist. It is clear that He is, as we examined last month, suppressing a truth that is evident to all. He is a fool. He instead needs to be shown how foolish and contradictory such a claim is. It is self-refuting. You cannot claim that words do not exist without using them. This is what we must show this person to show them how ridiculous a statement this is. What do we say when someone says they do not believe in God? Do we respond in the same way? Not usually. Usually we respond by trying to give a list of evidences to the truth that God exists, when the Bible says that they already know that God exists. Instead, we should be responding with the same attitude that we would respond with if someone said they didn't believe in words. Just as the person who is suppressing the truth about the existence of words, so to is the one who claims that God does not exist. Remember what God says in Romans 1 (which we looked at last week)? Everyone is without excuse for rejecting the God they know exists. They are foolish for doing so. You cannot even make the argument that God does not exists unless God DOES exist, let alone prove it. This...
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...when it is not it is false. Truth needs to be analytic and synthetic. An absolute claim can only be suggested when the being of it is proven for eternity. There are some distinction of false and truth but it is not absolute. Since to an extent, we distinct things unknowingly into two category, true and false. This distinction it helps us to decide. We distinct it by what we believe, perceived and justified. When we were a child we were told about what is true and what is false, and as we grow we choose it by our own opinion. What if what we’re told since we’re young is false and vice versa? There are some foundations to why we consider things as true and false and how we make our own distinction to understand things. Such as by learning things from other people and being influenced. Religious believe and our own personality or values to life. Sometimes we consider truth to what we want it to be true, as what is comfortable for us to think. Most of our truth and false settles down from a community, our knowledge and believe is tied to what our community is tied to. We believe because it is proven or because we were told and believe it. In the past people believe the world is flat and that there is a cliff at the end of the world. However, since we’ve been outer space we believe it is oval. The truth we once believe turned false. Absolute truth may exist and we might know it. However, since we aren’t omniscient we can’t assume it’s absolute. Truth depends on the situation. If...
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...There is such a concept residing in the world that is equally ambiguous as it is abstract; this concept would be the notion of truth. To define truth, would be defining something that is invented. Nothing can be absolute truth; rather, there are levels of truth. These variant levels range from more to less true, based on how interpretive one concept is over the other. In “Homo religiousus,” Karen Armstrong delves into two classifications of truth, the symbolic and the logical truth, and provides examples that corroborate her beliefs. In “When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning It Was Friday,” Martha Stout insinuates that the truths, Armstrong terms rational, conceptual and logical, are being influenced by the symbolic nature that is built into any “meaning-seeking creature[’s]” biology (Armstrong 5). An example of a meaning-seeking creature is Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens are the symbolic species. The ability that a meaning-seeking creature possesses, to understand, stems from a foundation of symbols. When defining truth, the idea that everything is made out of symbols has to be accounted for, and when regarding symbols, nothing can actually be concretely true. Therefore, there is no absolute truth, but rather there are conditions that can qualify different concepts as true, based on their levels of trueness, such as maintaining a unified consciousness, the mechanics of beliefs, language, and the...
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