Truth Essay

Some claim that truth does not exist. Others claim that truth is subjective. To make any progress in searching for the true world-view, a person must presuppose that truth is real. In fact, even the person who claims that truth does not exist is making a statement that they believe is true. For their statement to be true, truth must exist. In addition, the person who claims that truth is subjective is making a contradictory statement. If truth is subjective, then their statement can be false. If their statement is false, then truth is objective and absolute. If truth is objective and absolute, then their statement is most definitely not true. So, what is truth? For the sake of determining what is true, truth must be defined as the objective, absolute reflection and affirmation of reality that is supported and not contradicted by fact and logic. This leads to the question of how to determine what is true. A few foundational truths help to determine what else is true. One of

Dictionaries have changed immensely over time. If we look at just one word in the dictionary to see the different definitions from 3 different time periods, you see just how it has evolved. The word truth had 13 different definitions in 1828, but if you look at the same word in 1913, it has 2. In 1828, some definitions are: correct opinion, exactness, and conformity of fact or reality. Then in 1913, you see the same definition, conformity to fact or reality, but you also see: to assert as true; to declare. Then when we get to the modern dictionary, the definitions include: the real facts about something,and a statement or idea accepted as true. It seems to me that in 1828 if you think it's correct, it's true. In 1913 it seems that if you

According to Higgs, truthfulness can be thought as the : disclosing the information of someone to them without misleading their information. In a medical situation, for example, a doctor should reveal relevant information regarding the nature of illness of his patients, without saying anything that he believe to be false.

Someone once stated,” Tell me the cold truth, but don’t paint me a pretty lie.” As we walk our journey of life, we come to understand that the truth is harsh and yields to no one;moreover, the lie’s hurt increases as it grows. Honesty is important in all situations because eventually the truth shows and people base how they connect you in their life by your honesty or lies.

The truth is not outside ourselves but exists in us; we only have to learn to recognize and follow it. If indeed this is truth, then there are no absolutes. Your truth is your truth and my truth is my truth. No one can judge another's inner experience of truth; therefore, there can be no right or wrong. Yet the book implies there are wrong ways of thinking when it is refers to the "traditional beliefs" that one must reject in order to understand the insights. Apparently, some truths are truer than others.

The definition of truth is something that is always valid and cannot be proved invalid. Radiolab's podcast “Truth Warriors”, is about people who pursue the truth. In this podcast Neil deGrasse Tyson proves to a barista that he didn’t put whip cream in his hot cocoa and Errol Morris proves whether a photo of the Crimean War was staged or authentic. Neil believed that the barista did not put in whip cream, but the barista insisted otherwise. To prove him wrong, Neil then made the barista put more whip cream into his hot cocoa and the whip cream dipped once then stayed afloat on the hot cocoa proving to the barista that he did not put in the whip cream originally. Neil did not think the truth was that the cream sank to the bottom so he “fought”

Humans tend to listen to whatever their heart desires, by twisting words and hearing what they want to here. Alexis de Tocqueville was a French diplomat, political scientist, and a historian who was best known for his works Democracy in America and, The Old Regime and the Revolution. A line quote spoken from Alexis is “It is easier for the world to accept a simple lie than an complex truth.” What Alexis is elucidating to the human nature rather go the easier/not risky path. In society people value the truth but in actuality,the truth may not be worth it. For ex.) think about it with education, if you get a bad grade then you either lie to your guardian/parent(s) or tell the truth and hope it will be fine. Should you get punished or to be “safe”.

“Honesty is of God and dishonesty of the devil” (Joseph B. Wirthlin). To be honest means to be free of deceit and untruthfulness. It is a sign of sincerity. Dishonesty is deceitfulness shown in someone’s character or behavior. People believe honesty is important because it builds trust in a relationship. Honesty is the best policy no matter what the circumstance.

As a whole, being truthful to one another can reflect on another’s behavior. For example, as a parent, showing a reflective behavior of truth to your children helps them understand the importance of being honest to somebody. In The Aeneid, Aeneas displays veritas when he tells Dido the truth about their marriage and how he never agreed to it. Some examples of how our culture lacks truth can be exhibited through criminal investigations. Testifying in court involves an oath where anyone who is up on the stand is required to tell the whole truth, if not they face the consequence of perjury with fines and/or imprisonment.

In “On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense”, one of many things that Friedrich Nietzsche argues is that humans do not really hate lying, but they do hate the bad consequences that come with lying. He states, “What they hate is basically not deception itself, but rather the unpleasant, hated consequences” (453). Nietzsche explains that lying is useful and we as humans all make use this tool. We seem to ignore the fact that we are lying when it benefits us, although we do not accept the use of this tool when it has a bad effect on society, or on ourselves.

As Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius once said, “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” Based on my life experiences and observations, truth and the “whole story” have not always been synonymous, just as Aurelius implied. This does not mean that complete honesty is not something we should strive for, because regardless of the circumstance lying is wrong. It just means that knowing the whole truth is very difficult. Therefore, telling the whole story may not apply to the truth because there could always be more than one truth in the whole story.

Meleis and Schultz (1988) questioned the appropriateness of usage of word ‘truth’ in the context of complex human experience. Do I agree with this view? Yes, I do if it is used to generalize or to stereotype the human experience.

Truth is term that is universally and loosely defined. Webster’s New World College Dictionary describes truth as that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality. Counterpointed

I see right and wrong as a choice made by a person, let me say a boy for instance. He has a conscience and he knows what he is doing is very bad. He can deceive everybody, and make people think he is a good person, but deep inside of him he knows very well that what he is doing is not right. As the old saying ?what goes up must come down? there is an end to every thing, no matter how long it

For example, a Christian might say, “ I know Jesus Christ is my Lord and my Savior. By following his teachings, I will enter into heaven when I die.” To the Christian this may be an absolute truth. Imposing this statement on others is where this absolute truth, to the Christian, becomes debated. While many may agree that the Christian believes absolutely that Jesus is his Lord, they are unlikely to agree that Jesus is everyone's Lord is an absolute truth. Proper functioning societies and communities often rely on certain agreed-upon truths, or conditional truths. For example, the country holds rape and murder as crimes and uses language to define rape and murder. The failure for a society to define such terms, and agree upon their definition could result in chaos. Thus while absolute truths may be hard to come by, and difficult to agree upon, some amount of truths are generally required for a properly functioning society. Whether these truths are absolute or universal is a matter that has been and will likely continue to be debated. So to conclude this aspect, I would like to quote an excerpt from a speech made by Galt: “Existence is an absolute, a speck of dust is an absolute and so is a human life. Whether you live or die is an absolute. Whether you have a piece of bread or not, is an absolute. Whether you eat your bread or see it vanish into a looter’s stomach, is an absolute. “(Galt’s Speech, For the New Intellectual,