here at the nonist a multiple choice question is included for folks signing up as members of the site, namely: is there truth? all the classic magic eight ball answers are on offer as choices, i.e. outlook good, reply hazy ask again, etc. what i’ve noticed, and find fascinating, is how few people choose yes as their answer. a few people answered it is certain but by and large uncertainty or even outright doubtfulness seem to prevail. this result piques my interest and i decided to reach out and ask members of the site, as well as fellow bloggers, to address the issue directly and expound on their outlook on the notion of truth.
now it should be mentioned here that i can be extremely naive. i fully expected this to be an exercise people would embrace gladly, it being a real touchstone to understanding anyone’s outlook on life and the world, and as such something anyone ought to have a fairly well oiled opinion about. i imagined a compendium of blogger opinions, a ever expanding database of personal takes on the subject from bloggers and commenters far and wide. haha. well, as i said, i can be naive and i admit, thinking it through now, a request of this kind coming from a total stranger must be none too attractive. hell i didn’t even feel like writing about it today! in any case a few people were kind enough to offer up some musings on the subject and i’ve included them here, along with some historical opinions, for your consideration.
i say:
is there truth? i am among the doubtful. if pressed by menace of torture and threat of death, or if asked casually on the street by say a girl scout or frail old nun, i’d have to say, “no, i don’t believe there is such a thing as truth with a capital t.” i admit straight off this is a hard position to argue from in that no argument whatsoever can be made without the implication that the arguer in fact holds certain things to be true. otherwise what’s to argue about? expounding on why you believe ultimate truth does not exist is therefore difficult. to do so some qualifications need to be made.
truth exists. that’s the main qualification. is my name jaime? yes. do i posses a y chromosome and as such am a male of my species homo sapien sapien? yes. that’s true. am i currently sitting in my lair in new york city. yup. is the sun shining outside my window at this very moment? it is. absolutely. these are all true. i suppose i could be lying though so what about matters not having to do with me specifically which others might be able to corroborate? well, does 2 + 2 = 4? i think we can all agree it does so it’s true.
i could never dispute that truth exists. but truth with a capital t? greater truth? ultimate truth? i’m doubtful. i believe that outside of human consciousness there is no such thing as greater truth. i believe absolute truth is a construct, a fond wish of human minds always on the hunt for meaning and purpose. yes things exist, processes are in motion, events are occurring, forces are at work, all of which may be beyond our understanding, etc. but why should we suppose that any of it points to an overarching absolute truth, a meaning, or a greater purpose? in my mind that’s what the notion of truth with a capital t denotes, a baseline, beyond the merely factual, by which all else must be judged. the judging can only occur though with us as onlookers. remove us, or any sentient beings from the equation, and truth seems a moot point. is there truth beyond us, a truth not brought into being by the mechaniations of our value systems and judgements? is there truth outside of the sentient, “why?” obviously i can’t say and as such i feel it’s more honest to assume no, or at very least admit the jury is out and may always be out, than to assume yes without reasons beyond a fond desire.
another admission: i may be biased. it’s quite possible the endless parade of hypocrites and villains throughout human history claiming to have a strangle hold on absolute truth have turned me away from it forever. isn’t that what religion is after all? how much misery and suffering can be directly attributed to the arrogance of surety? how often is one view of the ultimate truth of existence forced upon someone else? we seem to have the damnedest time agreeing on totally inconsequential things… how can any one sentient being be more qualified than any other to make pronouncements on matters metaphysical and possibly beyond comprehension? i strongly suspect that everyone is exactly as qualified as everyone else in making grand pronouncements on this matter: in the case there is no such thing, perfectly qualified (and all equally correct) or in the case there is an absolute truth totally unqualified (and all equally wrong).
i certainly don’t know anything. i am like every other human- a delicate shifting amalgam of beliefs, conjectures, suspicions, faiths, impulses, misconceptions, instincts, dreams, superstitions, biases, fears, and irrational hopes. more often than not i feel like the squirrels in central park have a better grasp on reality and truth than i do. in so much as we keep assuming it exists, and keep searching it out, i suspect in the end, like the great riddle of the licks and the tootsie pop, “the world may never know.” that’s the best i can really do on the subject right now and though i have not said much, and added precicely nothing to human understanding of the subject, at least i’m not claiming to know something you don’t, or telling you that you’re wrong and will burn for all eternity, or go to jail, or have your nuts cut off as punishment. that should count for something in this truth racket shouldn’t it?
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t.s. elliot says:
Truth on our level is a different thing from truth for the jellyfish, and there must certainly be analogies for truth and error in jellyfish life.
Richard Rorty says:
Truth is simply a compliment paid to sentences seen to be paying their way.
graham greene says:
The truth has never been of any real value to any human being—it is a symbol for mathematicians and philosophers to pursue. In human relations kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths.
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member rich martinelli says:
I’m a strong proponent of words meaning something. So, YES there is truth. Logic requires it. Even if there was no truth, the statement “there is no truth” would be a truth. You get the idea. More difficult is to define when something qualifies as Truth.
Simple truths abound. They are generally not debatable and of little interest.
Concepts that must be adjudged truth or not truth flow like a continuum. Bigger issues, more variables, more complexity and separating truth from half-truth from flat out fibs becomes harder and harder. Truth gradually looses focus and gets fuzzier and fuzzier. At some point the label truth ceases to apply. Trust, belief, or—the worst—faith become more applicable…or, agreeing to disagree, spirited debate, and all out war.
The good news is that little truths build one upon the other and things that used to be fuzzy become clear. Then you don’t need to worry about them anymore. At least the rational among us don’t.
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Oscar Wilde says:
A truth ceases to be true when more than one person believes in it.
ralph waldo emerson says:
Truth has not single victories; all things are its organs,—not only dust and stones, but errors and lies.
albert camus says:
Truth, like light, is blinding. Lies, on the other hand, are a beautiful dusk, which enhances the value of each object.
Schopenhauer says:
All truth passes through three stages: First it is ridiculed. second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
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frank feijen of one man safari says:
The truth is out there. I can feel it. And I don’t think it matters much if it’s the Truth with a capital T or not. It’s the same truth isn’t it? So the truth is out there but of what truth are we talking really? it is a pretty big word with a pretty stern face. Sort of distant, uninviting, looming large. I approach with caution.
One thing is for sure though: I don’t doubt my senses. I know the world is out there and I know you know it too. I have no doubts about thet at all, not even philosophical ones. I am not dreaming. I am not in The matrix. This is a sentence and you’re reading it right now, see? So I am not going into the Truth of What Is. I would like to be practical, I was thinking, and into an area where we all are: our ordinairy (or maybe not so ordinairy) daily lives.
When do I think about the truth, really, I wondered? Well, I guess it just starts when people start talking, or communicating somehow, was the quickly found answer. Because there might be a chance that they don’t tell the truth. This doesn’t apply so much to my little circle of friends and loved ones, but it sure does apply to the very large circle of people I don’t really know, don’t know at all, and maybe, just maybe shouldn’t trust completely.
Yes I have those doubts. Is what’s being told by that eager salesman the truth? Is that sly looking politician telling me something without a hidden agenda? Is he leaving something out? Had that actress really such a hilarious good time on the set with her co-star? What do we really know about the facts presented to us by news reporters? What is not told? Who is lying? The accuser or the accused? And etcetera.
Shadows are there because of the sun, and the truth, or truth with a capital t, wouldn’t matter much really, wouldn’t matter at all I’d say, not in the real world, if it’s opposite wasn’t there all the time sitting right next to it, being pretty stern too, and uninviting, and looming just as large.
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william burroughs says:
Truth is used to vitalize a statement rather than devitalize it. Truth implies more than a simple statement of fact. “I don’t have any whisky,” may be a fact but it is not a truth.
john milton says:
Truth ... never comes into the world but like a Bastard, to the ignominy of him that brought her forth.
william james says:
Truth lives, in fact, for the most part on a credit system. Our thoughts and beliefs ‘pass,’ so long as nothing challenges them, just as bank-notes pass so long as nobody refuses them.
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sebastian from pcl linkdump says:
no, there is no universal truth. but there is a momentarily truth for everyone.
this truth, though, may have changed to be not valid the next minute.
But this is all we got, and the best we can do. There are, however,
grains of truth to be found everywhere. Where these grains come from
nobody knows for sure. It’s all about meterorology.
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Marvin Cohen says:
ah, the truth, what a thing it is! I sacrifice so much for it, with people: I forego, for truth’s sake, discretion, loyalty, diplomacy, tact, polite manners, elegance, grace, poise, balance, good taste, conformity, image-role, fashionableness, polish, confidences, promises, ambition, consistency, identity, clarity, comprehensibleness, good will, hypocrisy, and lots of other things—amass sacrifice, at truth’s altar. God! is truth worth it? I hope it is. It better be, in fact.
Lucien says:
the truth is hidden from us. Even if a mere piece of luck brings us straight to it, we shall have no grounded conviction of our success; there are so many similar objects, all claiming to be the real thing.
robert frost writes:
The truth is the river flows into the canyon
Of Ceasing-to-Question-What-Doesn’t-Concern-Us,
As sooner or later we have to cease somewhere.
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member dave cascino says:
truth. When’s the last time I experienced something that elicited a good hard belly laugh. Ah yes, I remember now. t’was wednesday, three days ago. lasted roughly 2 minutes. to me, that’s truth. the moment of disconnecting and thus connecting at the same time.
truth is not what I think it is. to me, in fact, ‘thought’ blocks the truth. thoughts seem to connect things that are not connected and draw divisions where none exist.
alas, I am but a flawed piece of meat, I’m destined to get caught up in the traps of thought. guess its best to just keep up the vigilance. perhaps next time hearing a song will be the jolt that shakes me up and reveals some truth, even for a fleeting instant. heck, I’ll take it. the truth always lies nearby, waiting for me to wake up from my hypnotic state and experience it.
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aldous huxley says:
When truth is nothing but the truth, it’s unnatural, it’s an abstraction that resembles nothing in the real world. In nature there are always so many other irrelevant things mixed up with the essential truth. That’s why art moves you—precisely because it’s unadulterated with all the irrelevancies of real life.
George Santayana says:
The truth properly means the sum of all true propositions, what omniscience would assert, the whole ideal system of qualities and relations which the world has exemplified or will exemplify. The truth is all things seen under the form of eternity.
h.l. mencken says:
Truth—Something somehow discreditable to someone.
Gustave Flaubert says:
There is no truth. There is only perception.
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nicholas szumowski from robotcult says:
despite the usual flighty and light subjects I post on robotcult., this is one of those topics I am generally obsessed with. I should first like to state that I simply reduce all human response to the basic level of the identity or ego (and i do not mean basic actions like initial fight-or-flight, hunger, etc…). What is real, true, life, experience, meaning, belief, association, etc; I see as concepts processed and then projected by our identity. I am not really sure how much we can control this considering how deeply saturated we have become in such systems. I would say a belief system would be the second tier up from ego, then meaning mixed with some association. What we subscribe to for a belief system, will shape how we associate meaning with a given experience and the our response to it. If we are limited by this system, which I am thinking we all are at different levels, the experience is invalid in a sense.
I can not honestly explain what I see as truth with a capital t as I am writing and thinking about all of this within my own context. I have ideas, like I have stated, but what are they based on? If I remind myself that none of this is Truth, wherever and whatever it is I am in at the moment, then i feel closer to Truth as it is, not with what we project on everything. I guess think there is a “universal truth”, we just can not comprehend it and probably wouldn’t like it and think it quite boring were we able to because it is probably nothing. I find that quite beautiful
Maybe we should ask the Universe what it thinks? OK I must stop before i start spacing out and getting way off topic, I am very bad these days at writing in a coherent manner and articulating what is in my mind. I hope it wasn’t too confusing and please take it with a grain of salt, i’m only human! I think it would be great to get a big open group dialogue going and exchange ideas as I see that as one of the the only things that gets us evolving and out of the static little loops/systems we sometimes get lost in!
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Soren Kierkegaard says:
The truth is a snare: you cannot have it, without being caught. You cannot have the truth in such a way that you catch it, but only in such a way that it catches you.
aristotle says:
The investigation of the truth is in one way hard, in another easy. An indication of this is found in the fact that no one is able to obtain the truth adequately, while on the other hand, no one fails entirely, but everyone says something true about the nature of things, and while individually they contribute little or nothing to the truth, by the union of all a considerable amount is amassed. Therefore, since the truth seems to be like the proverbial door, which no one can fail to hit, in this way it is easy, but the fact that we can have a whole truth, and not the particular part we aim at shows the difficulty of it.
samuel butler says:
Truth: It should not be absolutely lost sight of but it should not be talked about.
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member tom bolger says:
So the truth is I have started and erased this essay on truth about 5 times now. This is mostly because I find the subject annoying and almost insulting. I have a hard time threading the needle as it were, with things like this. Where do we go to find truth when we live in the country of the convenient lie? This country was founded on some so called truths that were found to be self evident and yet simultaneously did not apply to everyone. A war was fought to ensure that people in America did not have to be taxed without being represented, taxed on their cotton, their tea and their slaves. What was the truth of the revolutionary war? Patriots fighting for their country or landowners fighting for their land? Truth, what a rotten word, what a terrible concept.
Truth, if you believe in the truth, means that you are beholden to some set or concepts or pre-conceptions that bind you to a course of action in any given situation. Some truths, like the truth of gravity, are considered facts. Facts are supposed to be truths with scientific grounding that are inescapable and undeniable, yet it was once true that man could never fly. It was once truth that man could never explore space. Hell it was once true that all of our physical ailments were caused by restless spirits and demons. So, if our idea of what is and is not physically possible changes from decade to decade, from century to century, where does that leave the other truths? The philosophical, the spiritual and emotional truths?
Webster’s dictionary defines truth as:
God I have no idea. the dictionary is all the way in the living room and i’m here in front of the computer and i’m not going all the way over there just to look something up. besides, i think it’s an American Oxford anyway. (yeah yeah, dictionary.com and all but I’m not doing that either)
i think truth exists but i also think that it is subjective more often than not. we as a species seem to simultaneously have both a hunger for and an amazing ability to obfuscate the truth. i think instinct is an undeniable truth, the instructions hardwired into us by millions of years of evolution that resides in the tiny little clenched fist part of our brains. i think that truthfully, we spend more time justifying or denying these electrical impulses then a we would care to admit. I think it has never been easier for a person to deny the very idea of truth than it is right now in history, we are so insulated from each other and from the world that it is a simple thing to make up a reason for not doing something, for not giving to charity, for carpet bombing some city, for wasting resources, for just not giving a shit about anyone but ourselves. I also think that the average person is capable of being led to do the right thing by his instincts more often than not if they choose to listen to them and if they aren’t a sociopath.
The big problem as I see it is that we have become a nation of solipsists and dissemblers each one of us ignoring what our gut may tell us in favor of being comfortable. I can not honestly believe that deep in her heart, soccer mom 1a does not have twinges of conscience about the fact that young men and women are dying half a world a way in part so she can continue to badly pilot that 8 mile to the gallon oversized monstrosity she calls a family vehicle, but those twinges get buried underneath the hum of her motor, the twitter of her cel-phone and the demands of her children.
Our society may in general be more cluttered more full of noise than signal when it comes to the idea of truth with a capital t, but I don’t think our particular brand of self seeking and denial is germane only to America in the 20th and 21st century. It seems spanning the length of recorded history we find one charismatic personality or one group of power players willing to distort truth to make their own ends come to fruitition. I have spent a paragraph or two dancing around the subject but in my eyes the idea of truth boils down to one thing, and that is the relative worth of life. Meaning that we are all worth the same potentially and that worth is not defined by the person doing the judging but is inherent and potential in the breast of all people currently walking, who once walked and who will walk the face of this planet. I am not trying to paint this in terms of a higher power although I do believe in one, I feel it is something that stands outside matters of faith, all men and women fundamentally are worthy of life and it stands to reason that if they are worthy of life, they are worthy of being loved.
Some people are better or worse at this than others, either through subconscious learned behavior patterns, rank cynicism, or ignorance, but this does not mean they should be consigned to some status of lesser or less worthy. Americans in particular have a hard time with this. As our recent and ongoing illegal war proves, we as an aggregate seem to be pretty ok with the idea of mass murder in order to prolong and secure our style of living for even a couple of years. I don’t want to make this into a political thing, although it is. It most certainly is. Concepts and ideologies concerning what the truth is have never had more of an impact on this planet than they do now. We are at the point where millions of lives can potentially be erased over some matter of doctrine that one party holds to it’s breast and declares to be his most high and that some other party repudiates and finds to be unacceptable. Buttons can be pushed, phone calls can be made, and millions can die. But see, the reality is that a conflagration between oh lets say Islamic fundamentalists and first world capitalists (as far fetched as that may seem…) isn’t about whose truth is um, truer. It’s about being right.
Now being right has as much to do with truth as football does with brain surgery. Being right, is about being inflexible in the face of contrary facts as often as not. Being right is a useless activity that human beings engage in so they don’t have to face up to the fact that they may have possibly been misled at some point in their lives. that a series of decisions they have made on a flawed assumption may have put them in a situation, that when viewed rationally, is completely untenable. Being right usually boils down to shouting louder, hitting harder and kicking the other guy when he is down. It also seems, to my mind, that we are much more often interested in being right than we are in being true. Of course, paradoxically, all the big truths have to stem from personal ones and if we set our store in a philosophy that is fundamentally flawed (‘cheap oil’ for example or ‘all women were put on the earth to tempt the purity of man’) we are left in the unpleasant position of trying to make sure that other people understand that our truth is right and the other guy is some evil-doing jerk with questionable taste in facial hair
The truth is, I often think we’re kind of fucked. But in my opinion, if there is any salvation to be had, it lies with that concept of personal truth. If we clean up our side of the street, and start at home, ensure that we live our lives in a fashion we consider to be compassionate and honest and take pains to make sure that it is represented in our daily actions (not just ‘thinking good thoughts’ while assiduously putting the screws to our friends and neighbors) that we are responsible for our actions, that we consider them not just take them. That we make amends when we find that we have been wrong (that we are capable of even admitting that we were wrong) that we teach by example, that we set a course for ourselves as best as we can maybe we can reach some sort of critical mass by which we’ll at least be nicer to each other. Be a little more flexible. Imagine a world where the concept of truth was not a whip which drove multitudes to murder but something that fomented a nice little debate in a public square or an online community somewhere.
Ok, I almost quoted john lennon in that sappy final paragraph so I think I’m done.
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and so is this post, for now. i’d love to keep this open to anyone out there who cares to contribute or weigh in. please feel free to do so in the comments section or to send us your thoughts via the contact link. who knows, maybe this will grow over time we can add this to the projects page? thanks to all of you who took the time to respond and to all dead folk whose words i plundered. all the best! (p.s. to any of said dead folk, if you’re reading this from beyond the grave, kindly get off your ghostly asses and haunt my apartment sometime soon. stop being so stingy will you please?! what did you find out?) salud.