Something to Think About

A man is not rightly conditioned until he is a happy, healthy, and prosperous being; and happiness, health, and prosperity are the result of a harmonious adjustment of the inner with the outer of the man with his surroundings.

James Allen

Different men seek after happiness in different ways and by different means, and so make for themselves different modes of life and forms of government.

Aristotle

People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy.

Oliver Goldsmith

What is Truth?

EMail This Post Published by Michael December 31st, 2006 in Musings

Most people understand truth as representational truth, meaning a statement can only be classified as true or false if it refers to or represents something in the concrete world. Example: “It is raining outside”. This can be checked by going outside to verify whether it is indeed raining. When aspects can easily be seen, we tie our statements to the objects, processes or affairs. This is also called the correspondence theory of truth and relies on empirical representation.

The more complex approach to truth includes subjective truthfulness. Example: “I am happy”. There is no way of checking the accuracy of this statement without entering into further discussion, since we are assessing a topic which is not represented in the concrete world (or isn’t backed by a Law of Nature).

The difficulty with subjective truthfulness is that not only might I be lying to you, I could also be lying to myself, often without being aware of it myself. In our simplistic example, I could honestly tell you that I am happy (so I am being true to you), but I’ve not admitted to myself that I am not happy (so I am not being true to myself). Is my statement thus true or false?

The amazing fact is that truth alone will not set one free. Only truthfulness will set one free.

Popularity: 45% [?]

Why bother trying to find it again later? Just bookmark it, and share with the world:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.