Is there such a thing as truth?

[elliotfc]

OK. How about this.

People search for answers. That's an inarguable point. Does the search imply the existence of answers? Maybe, and maybe not. Maybe there really are no answers, and what we think are answers are only temporary statements just waiting to be invalidated by what we don't yet know, or don't fully understand.

Yet if that is the case, we admit that better answers have to exist, even if they themselves are temporary and insufficient answers.

The search for answers could be
a) circular
b) random
c) bifurcating
d) directed

Am I missing anything?

Does the reality that temporary or working answers exist suggest that Truth exists? Yes, I think so. I've only re-phrased what Kitty says, but I think it's quite indicative that even the people who say there is no Truth are searching for better answers. Our behavior betrays or belies anything we say.

So is our behavior a coping mechanism? Is it fueled by a natural desire that is *good*, for lack of a better word?

I don't have any inherent fear or loathing of accepting a premise that I can never actually possess or confine. Truth would be greater than all of us. Truth can not be scientifically measured or controlled, or bottled. This didn't bother countless philosophers, who happily deduced the existence of Truth without fretting about human insufficiencies.

Working solution? Who cares what people believe, what people do speaks volumes. We all act like we believe in the existence of Truth, so quit apologizing about it.

-Elliot

 

[drkitten]

Isn't that what "contradictory" means---namely, that two contradictory statements cannot both be true? That's what I always thought it meant. What do you mean by the word "contradictory"?

Not always; in more formal contexts, "contradiction" can also mean
a set of statements from which "nil" can be derived, or a set of
statements that can be proven equivalent to "A ^ not-A," etc. There are a lot of logical systems that take the notion of contradiction a lot more seriously than simple binary yes/no.

 

[JAK]

Not always; in more formal contexts, "contradiction" can also mean
a set of statements from which "nil" can be derived, or a set of
statements that can be proven equivalent to "A ^ not-A," etc. There are a lot of logical systems that take the notion of contradiction a lot more seriously than simple binary yes/no.

Intriguing ... I'd like to learn more.

Have you got an example? Author/reference?