Mary Drew
TRUTH
What does the word “truth” mean? As a child it
never occurred to me to question the “truths” I had
come to know and trust in. there was such things as the
Easter Bunny, Santa Clause, the Tooth Fairy, and the
monster underneath the bed. These fictional characters
were once very real. Many a fantastical character are
let loose from the imagination of a young child. It is
easy to believe in these creations of the mind. They
become true pets, friends, or monsters as real as ever.
I was not one to question my own creations or much else
for that matter. Yet now, in my second year of college,
I am filled with questions in all the things that
interest me. I am aware of the immensity of knowledge
that I have no grasp of, perhaps have never even heard
of, and it is this knowledge of a lack that makes me
question everything that I would seek to say I know.
One of these things is the very concept of truth.
Facts are something that is said to be proven,
and therefore truthful information. Truth is
undisputed. As a definition of scientific and
mathematical “truth” I would venture to say that truth
is nothing more than a set of rules a population has
come to agree upon for without such conventions society
could not exist in the way it does now. Being social
creatures with curiosity to spare, a lack of such
premises would mean no advancement in knowledge for the
population. Truth is relative.
There is of course another kind of truth that
everyone has experience with, and this is the concept
of “telling the truth” it seems such an easy thing don’t lie. Yet still in the process of seeking the core
meaning of truth, “telling the truth” becomes more
complicated, for without a definition of truth how can
one do this task? Yet without a formal understanding as
to what constitutes truth, it is still possible to
perform this action. From childhood it is expected that
being truthful is good behavior and lying is bad
behavior. It is expected that one will tell what really
occurred in a given situation when prodded by an
inquisitive adult. If the answer given strays from
factual into fantasy, it is a lie. Good behavior
exhibited by “truth” or sincerity is rewarded; naughty
behavior is punished, instilling right from wrong in
the young so that these favorable societal qualities
may be etched into the minds of the up-and-coming
generations.
Being the opposite of truth, lies are important
to understand. To lie is to deceive. To knowingly
mislead someone else. There are also what are known as
“white lies.” Small mistruths that are aimed at
avoiding hurt feelings. Yet though these little lies
are still knowingly deceiving another and thus just as
much a lie as any other. All the same these small
misdeeds are uttered all the time in modern society as
a sort of place between truth and lie; not enough to
punish for because of the esteem boost reward of these
comments.
Even in our judicial system truth plays a most
crucial role. The statement “…the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth…” is a preclude to
official proceedings to ensure that the events
recounted are not fictional, and thus make the whole
point of the recounts useless. Of course, it is not
impossible to lie yet by making the oath not to do so,
the deceit can be dealt with through punishment if
caught in order to deter those who would seek to
deceive.
The word truth today is thrown around in
everyday conversation all the time. It is used for
instance, as emphasis in stories. The story could be
fanciful or a real account of an event. Either way, the
same word is used. Say for instance a friend is telling
a joke and states: “true story!” The audience who
listened to the joke know it isn’t true, yet the ending
line is not refuted. It merely plays into the potential
humor of the joke. Another common sort of joking manner
in which the idea of truth is utilized is: “If you
believe that…” This is much the same as the last
example, implying truth yet at the same time it is
clear to the audience that the statements following the
beginning phrase are very likely not factual.
The word is also used in reference to
everything from bottled hair color, like “true blonde,”
to slogans on billboards advertising for this or that
new product with the clenching line of “be true to
yourself.” Songs and movies also use the word. For
instance the movie “True Lies” exploits both the word
truth and its opposite, or the song title “Truly,
Madly, Deeply“. The term “truly” is so often added into
a sentence to make the statement seem more sincere, let
alone using it in the title of a song, movie, etc. Yet
another example is the phrase “true love,” but what
does that really mean? Many will likely use this phrase
at least once, but what is meant by this phrase? Some
might say the purest perfect love that can exist
between two people, but this too says nothing since
there is no real definition as to what the purest
perfect love actually is.
At this point in my investigation of truth I
feel as if I know very little about the concept indeed.
It is something that surrounds daily life, and yet an
exact definition eludes me. Perhaps this in itself is
part of the riddle of truth. The subjective nature it
seems to have makes it very hard to define indeed.
Perhaps the first step in finding truth is letting go
of the need for a succinct clear answer; a single
interpretation of truth itself. It is for this reason
that looking more closely at the different ways of
seeing truth is necessary to understand this complex
concept further.
PART TWO - PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACHES
Aristotle stated in Metaphysics (Book 4): "To
say of what is, that it is, or of what is not, that it
is not, is true." This explanation doesn’t seem any
closer to understanding the nature of truth, just as
many statements on truth don’t convey much
understanding of the nature of truth.
Friedrich Nietzsche in On Truth and Lies in a
Nonmoral Sense states: "What then is truth? A movable
host of metaphors, metonymies, and; anthropomorphisms:
in short, a sum of human relations which have been
poetically and rhetorically intensified, transferred,
and embellished, and which, after long usage, seem to a
people to be fixed, canonical, and binding." This
quote, found on Wikipedia.com on the subject of truth
seems to make a bit more sense, as if a workable idea
of truth is closer to being reached. Yet this statement
merely states the acceptance of truths in societies and
not the nature of truth itself.
In yet another example of the topic of truth
appearing in the works of influential thinkers is: "To
me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is
real. And, at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact
and everything in between, plus some things I can't
remember, all rolled into one big 'thing'. This is
truth, to me." — Jack Handey, wikipedia.com. This quote
seems quite appropriate since it gives truth a dual
nature in context to truth as a tangible thing that one
may grasp.
As it stands, there are hundreds of
investigations into the nature of truth, from Plato,
Aristotle, and Descartes to more recent philosophers
like Charles Sanders Pierce, Alfred Tarski, Ludwig
Wittgenstein and many more. It is for this reason it is
necessary to limit the scope. The main focus therefore
will be on Descartes views on truth gathered from
sources explaining parts of his works.
Descartes is said to be known for defining
knowledge in terms of doubt and states: “I distinguish
the two as follows: there is conviction when there
remains some reason which might lead us to doubt, but
knowledge is conviction based on a reason so strong
that it can never be shaken by any stronger reason.”
(1640 letter, AT 3:64-65)… “But since I see that you
are still stuck fast in the doubts which I put forward
in the First Meditation, and which I thought I had very
carefully removed in the succeeding Meditations, I
shall now expound for a second time the basis on which
it seems to me that all human certainty can be founded.
First of all, as soon as we think that we correctly
perceive something, we are spontaneously convinced that
it is true. Now if this conviction is so firm that it
is impossible for us ever to have any reason for
doubting what we are convinced of, then there are no
further questions for us to ask: we have everything
that we could reasonably want. … For the supposition
which we are making here is of a conviction so firm
that it is quite incapable of being destroyed; and such
a conviction is clearly the same as the most perfect
certainty.” (Replies 2, AT 7:144-45).
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartesepistemology/#1
This passage addresses the concept of truth in
relation to knowledge and perception which then goes
toward the development of a “most perfect certainty” by
which no doubt can remain. This is how to get to truth
according to Descartes. Start in essence with something
so clear and firm that there never exists the notion to
doubt it. Truth is created by convictions based on
reason; reason so strong it will not fall into refute
at any point. Is this to say that Descartes “most
perfect certainty” is equivalent to truth? It is clear
that Descartes views this as a conviction of the
greatest magnitude, and in relation to the previous
statement in which “truth” is mentioned, it might be
interpreted as meaning that truth is indeed the root of
his statement. “Descartes' internalism requires that
all justifying factors take the form of ideas. For he
holds that ideas are, strictly speaking, the only
objects of perception, or conscious awareness.” (Lex
Newman in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). I
think that this statement is important in terms of
clarifying yet another idea held up in Descartes
philosophy.
The concept that ideas are the only objects of
perception is striking as it states that a person is so
limited in objects of perception. After reading this
statement, though part of me reacted to this minimalist
perceptive view, it seems to make sense. Truth is still
just as elusive at this point as it was before
exploring other views on truth and finding it. Now,
however, a few more dimensions to the puzzle have been
added. One new layer atop the rest.