zgamesforu Posted March 6, 2005 Share Posted March 6, 2005 Ok guys, here's your chance to prove yourslef as true philosophers. Can you answer this question? (And for bonus, can you support it with some other source?) "Different cultures have different truths." "A truth is that which can be accepted universally." What are the implications for knowledge of agreeing with these opposing statements? If you can answer it nicely we'll talk about some sort of reward. (DVDs maybe?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VonHelton Posted March 6, 2005 Share Posted March 6, 2005 A truth is that which can be accepted universally within a culture but different cultures have different truths. Is that what you mean? :stare: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZaphodiLe Posted March 6, 2005 Share Posted March 6, 2005 That there are no truths :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weyoun Posted March 6, 2005 Share Posted March 6, 2005 Ok guys, here's your chance to prove yourslef as true philosophers. Can you answer this question? (And for bonus, can you support it with some other source?) "Different cultures have different truths." "A truth is that which can be accepted universally." What are the implications for knowledge of agreeing with these opposing statements? If you can answer it nicely we'll talk about some sort of reward. (DVDs maybe?) Hmm, are you looking for some help with a Theory of Knowledge class or something? I remember having to answer this question in one once. Matter of fact, if you google the two quotes, you get quite a bit of verbatim info, including a post or more from a tok class. lol. Look through some of those posts and you will find some good information though quite a bit too much to post here. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karimw786 Posted March 6, 2005 Share Posted March 6, 2005 Well I'm doing a minor in Philosophy (with a Major in Computer Science), so I recognize your question as one corcerning the morality of "ethical relativity" and in some respects "epistemology." Personally I think that ethical relativity can only get us so far. But at the same time, looking for universal laws on such topics as abortion and euthanasia is nearly impossible. So, my answer to your question can be summarizied by the following: "Let us take it on a case by case basis." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maverick Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 HOW BOUT THIS...? i read ur statements and the first thing i did was look in my dictionary to see what the difference between a fact and a truth. truth is partly about facts though does not always require them. i agree that in maths that there are truths. that is undeniable but the criteria for those truths is based on proof. these proofs may be described as facts as they are generally accepted theory or simply irrefutable. so truth is a function of the criteria used to define it. there are then, many forms of criteria: -emotional -philosophical -absolute -religious ......and the list can go on my answer to the statement is that truth is a question of perception and criteria for finding the truth and there are many truths for many things. i aint readin this back cos im tired, so if it dont make sense i'll say its cos my theory is like WAY complex :thinking: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghostwolf357 Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 HOW BOUT THIS...? i read ur statements and the first thing i did was look in my dictionary to see what the difference between a fact and a truth. truth is partly about facts though does not always require them. i agree that in maths that there are truths. that is undeniable but the criteria for those truths is based on proof. these proofs may be described as facts as they are generally accepted theory or simply irrefutable. so truth is a function of the criteria used to define it. there are then, many forms of criteria: -emotional -philosophical -absolute -religious ......and the list can go on my answer to the statement is that truth is a question of perception and criteria for finding the truth and there are many truths for many things. i aint readin this back cos im tired, so if it dont make sense i'll say its cos my theory is like WAY complex :thinking: way to deep for me, simple truth , fact, fantasy, religion and history. Always the winners and the last standing, usally the ones that can write the stuff down the fastest..food for tought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lamp Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 the implication is ignorance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stranger Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 If truth is accepted universally and different cultures have different truths, different cultures live in different universes. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralLee Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 None of this explains the sound of the one hand clapping.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkusSVK Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 What is truth? Something we believe in? A word from the vocabulary, or something that realy exists. My proffesor of philsofy said that a philosofer is closer to the truth but I disagree a bit with him. Sounds a bit egoistic and smallminded to me. Sometimes people don't see the truth even if it vould stand right before tham(or they don't want to). Truth is that everyone of us is a lier. We lie every day to cover our mistakes, our weakneses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vystral Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 Truth is what is force fed to us. If I locked you in my basement in total darkness when you were born and kept you there all your life, your universe would be that basement. If I shined a light down and threw you food every once in a while, I would be your god. You would know nothing beyond that basement. That would be your truth. Out here in the "real" world, there are different truths. For instance, I am told that Europe exists. I know that as a truth because I've been told that all my life. I've never been there, so it is not a complete truth. If I look out my window right now, I expect to see a parking lot. I know the lot is there because I walked across it to enter my apartment. But, I can't see it right now. How do I know it exists right now? I don't. Maybe every time I look through the window, the parking lot just appears. Maybe its not there right now. The existence of anything is a "truth." Again, truth is what is told to us all our lives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elderbear Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 way to deep for me' date=' simple truth , fact, fantasy, religion and history. Always the winners and the last standing, usally the ones that can write the stuff down the fastest..food for tought.[/quote'] I'm going to wade into this later, I hope by Sunday night. But I couldn't resist this: The Tao which can be written down is not the True Tao. The Name which can be spoken is not the Name. Once you think you have a handle on Truth (as opposed to "facts") you have only ended up with (at best) a truth. And if you persist on insisting that you have The Truth, you are merely deluded. Consider the field of math, which several have already used as an example of a field where "Truth" may be found. Kurt Goedel showed rather elegantly that in any mathematical system, there will either exist contradictions (one equals two) or there will be axioms that cannot be proven true or false. Thus, even in something as "cut and dried" as math, Truth remains elusive. But think beyond Goedel for a minute. One of the earliest mathematical "Truths" we learn is counting. 1+1=2. Or, for the set theorists, the set of nothing is the empty set {}. The set of the empty set, {{}}, is one. Two is the set {{}, {{}}} ... and then we can proceed to construct all counting numbers, and with simple numerical operators, construct all numbers (given infinite time). Imagine, for a moment, what it might be like for a species who finds the most elementary mathematical "Truth" to be expressed with transcendental numbers: exp(i*pi) = -1. For them, counting numbers would certainly be irrational. So clearly, we need a good understanding of "Truth" and/or "truth" if we're going to understand cultures. And this may beg a larger question: "Is there an absolute Truth, or simply a consensus truth which can be operantly understood?" If the latter (a more post-modernist view), then are there many consensual realities corresponding to various perspectives and truths? And as we approach Ostara/Easter/Passover, it behooves us to remember Pontius Pilate who washed his hands and said "What is Truth?" Allowing an ambiguous understanding of truth to become an excuse for participating in barbarism is to doom oneself to being unable to encounter any Truth which may exist. More later - and thanks for the thought provoking question!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elderbear Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 None of this explains the sound of the one hand clapping.... A koan that was well answered when the master slapped the student who asked him about it on the cheek!!! B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vystral Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 If thuth to me is eating people, is that wrong? Consider the borg. They find truth in assimilating cultures, although it is not very nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
werecow Posted March 11, 2005 Share Posted March 11, 2005 the truth is that the grass is greener on the other side of the pasture.....ill make it there someday....( jeeze why make things so complicated.... the answer is perspective ) my grass is greener that yours....your grass is greener than mine....think about it.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maverick Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 ........Pontius Pilate who washed his hands and said "What is Truth?" perhaps the truth is subjective. maybe a function of where you are or who you are standing next to. 1. trans. To prove true, verify. Obs. rare1. 2. To make true, as a piece of mechanism or the like; to place, adjust, or shape accurately; to give the precise required form or position to; to make accurately or perfectly straight, level, round, smooth, sharp, etc. as required. Often with up. Hence truing vbl. n. (also attrib.). from oxford english dictionary online. no. 2 is probably the best one to go from. it blatantly says that yo can take the facts of a situation and place, adjust or position them to "make" a truth as required. remeber that ep of DS9 where garak said... "never tell the same lie twice?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vystral Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 A wise man once said, "don't take philisophical lessons from the dictionary." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elderbear Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 Given the premises: A ) "Different cultures have different truths." B ) "A truth is that which can be accepted universally." What are the implications for knowledge of agreeing with these opposing statements? The truth about Truth Part 1: Answering the question as given. Two fairly trivial answers arise: 1) A and B contradict each other, and therefore do not form a meaningful basis for discourse. 2) In this context, A really posits that cultural truths are accepted universally within the specific culture that holds them. Thus, a universal truth (such as women give birth to babies) is one that is accepted within all cultures. But, B has a severe problem. It is a terrible definition of truth. In 1450 CE, in most of the inland regions of the world, it was universally accepted that the earth was flat, even though Eratosthenes had demonstrated that it was at least sorta spherical over 1500 years earlier. Since this was a universally agreed upon proposition, by ( B ) it would be considered truth. Now, although there still exist flat earth society members, our truth is that the earth is round. To whit, the universal acceptance of something is no guarantee that it will be true. It may be quite false! Truth must move beyond universal acceptance. So these definitions are inadequate to define truth and thus a contradiction does not exist. In my next segment, I will begin to explore the nature of truth and Truth. This includes bits and pieces of epistemology and ontology as well as deductive and inductive reasoning. One question to act as a warm up is "What different types of "truth" might there be and how might they be experienced?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
werecow Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 (applauds elderbear with the sound of one hand clapping) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now