Note of "BEYOND FEELINGS" (3)

What is TRUTH

For hundreds of years philosophers battled over whether "truth" exists. The argument usually concerned "Truth" with a capital T, a kind of complete record of whatever was, is, or will be, error-proof, beyond doubt and dispute, a final test of the rightness or wrongness of people's ideas and theories.Those who accepted the existence of this Truth believed it was a spiritual reality, not a physical one. That is, it was not a celestial ledger or file-drawer – yet it was beyond time and space.

Now if we were to stop our analysis here and consider only the fact of our uniqueness, we might understandably conclude that truth is relative; that is, that it varies from person to person, that one person's truth is another's error, and that there is not higher claim to validity than individual viewpoint.

THE QUALITY OF PERCEPTION

But there is more to consider. First, we can be mistaken in what we perceive.

THE QUALITY OF INFORMATION

Second, our information can be inaccurate or incomplete. The quality of a belief depends to a considerable extend on the quality of the information that backs it up. Because it's a big world and reality has many faces, it's easy for us to be misinformed.

Even in more common situations, it's easy to be misinformed. Now if misinformation is common enough in such relatively simple matters, how much more common is it in complex matters like law and medicine and government and religion?

EVEN THE WISE CAN ERR

All too often, what is taken as truth today by the most respected minds is proved erroneous tomorrow. Galileo, Darwin are examples. Here are some examples you may not have heard of:

For a long time surgeons used talc on the rubber gloves they wear while performing surgery. Then they discovered it could be poisonous. So they switched starch only to find that it too can have a toxic effect on surgical patients.

Your grandparents probably learned that there are eight planets in our solar system. Since Pluto was discovered in 1930, your parents and you learned there are nine. But if the observations of Joseph L. Brady of the University of California prove correct, your children will learn there are ten.

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TRUTH: A DEFINITION

Where does all this leave us? If an individual can be wrong and even the most widely endorsed conviction of an age is not necessarily correct, what can truth be?

The truth about something is what is so about it, the facts about it in their exact arrangement and proportions. Did time run out before the field goal was kicked? How does gravity work? To look for the truth in any of these matters is to look for the correct answer, the answer that completely expresses reality in the matter. Whatever difficulty we may find in discerning or stating the truth is beside the point.

That last sentence deserves emphasizing. Much of the confusion about truth arises from complex situations in which the truth is difficult to ascertain or express. Consider a question like "Are there really UFOs that are piloted by extraterrestrial beings? Although the question is often hotly debated, and people make assertions that purport to express the truth, there is not yet sufficient evidence to say we know the truth about UFOs. That, however, doesn't mean that there is no truth about them or that people who affirm their existence and people who deny it are equally correct. It means that whatever the truth is, we do not yet possess it.

Similar difficulty arises from many psychological and philosophical questions like "Why are some people heterosexual and other homosexual?" "Is the cause of criminality genetic or environmental or a combination of the two?" Are human beings inherently violent?" "Is there an afterlife?" "What constitutes success?" The answers to these questions, and to many of the issues you will encounter in the applications in this book, will often be incomplete or tentative. Yet that fact should not shake your conviction that there are truths to be discovered.

Having the right frame of mind can make your pursuit of the truth less burdensome and give it some of the adventure the greatest thinkers of history experienced. A good way to begin is to keep the following thought in mind: "I know I've got limitations and can easily be mistaken. And surely I'll never find all the answers I'd like to. But I can observe a little more accurately, weigh things a little more thoroughly, and make up my mind a little more carefully. If I do so, I'll be a little closer to the truth."

That's far different from saying, "Everyone makes his or her own truth" or "It all depends on how you look at it." And it is much more reasonable.