What is Truth? Essay

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

In present day civilizations, societal conflicts seem to be on the rise, more than ever before. It seems as if everyone has an individualized philosophy. There are people that merely wish to maintain cultural peace; pursuing the tolerance of conflicting perspectives. This variance makes me wonder, is there undoubtedly one dogma of truth that all humanity should be able to conform to? Should everyone have the right to substantiate their personalized interpretation of cultural truth? Will the liberality of this diversification generate cordial acceptance, or will it solely effectuate cultural chaos? There are three recognizable conflicting views of truth represented by our society; absolutism, societal relativism,

What is your understanding of “ truth” after your study of conflicting perspectives and their representation?

The implication is that objective certainty viz., the idea that we can be certain of “things” via an agreement with our thinking and that of others is erroneous. As an example, if we are all sitting in a classroom, and the professor points to a water bottle, and asks, “What is this [thing]?” There would be some concurrence that the object has certain properties. That the water bottle is made out of a metallic material, that the water bottle is cylindrical in shape, that the water bottle is red in color. These are all properties of the object that we can agree upon, and be certain are true, because of our concurrence. This objective certainty, from an empirical perspective, has more truth than if I was to think subjectively the water bottle was red and

“A Life Revealed” reveals more than just the identity of a lost woman after seventeen years, but the struggle of many under a religion-based government at odds with one another. Government is the highest level; a level that everyone else in the world can see and use to assume what the lives of its people endure day by day. But very few can see the struggle of the common man under this harsh power.

Truth is a matter of perspective and since we all see life through the lenses of our experiences

Truth is a basic concept in human nature. People would reject the truth when they are blinded by religion, community and pride these interfere with people perceiving the truth. Oedipus prideful character in the book Oedipus the King by Sophocles supports this idea. Also in The allegory of the Cave by Plato a community prevents people from finding the truth. Likewise religion such as Islam they allow man to beat their wife which is wrong in today’s society.

A friend of mine, named Johnny, was certain that, in the moment the question was asked, he was sitting and talking with me. To show him that he can’t really be certain about that, I would give him the example of dreaming. When your dreaming you never doubt that you what you see and you believe that you experiencing those things. Of course Johnny would say something like “well I know that I am awake” and that he could “tell the difference”, but when we are dreaming we don’t see it that way.

Many people believe the idea that truth is subjective, especially when it comes to the Bible. Some think that whatever they believe to be true, is true, while another person believes what they know is true for them. With these basic facts it is clear that most people has their own truth, even if it flatly contradicts other people's truths. In effect, this means that people cannot understand the Bible alike; causing their interpretations to be misinterpreted for their own viewpoints.

The first issue is what actually is truth? There are many things that we perceive to be true, depending on perspective or our beliefs, which differ from one person to the next, known as

Under what conditions is the word supposed to be true, and under what condi-tions false?

In the talk, “What is truth?” by President Dieter Uchtdorf he explains what truth is, the importance of searching for the truth, and how to search for that truth. The truth that was talked about is absolute truth. It is different than what people might understand or believe, or even what seems to be popular. Absolute truth is truth that comes from God. It is important that we all search for this truth as our life purpose is to learn truth and knowledge in order to become like our Father in Heaven. Searching for truth can be done in many different ways, and personally I believe that it is very important for us to search for truth in all those different ways in order to really discover truth. Some people will try to discover truth from their

All human knowledge is only probably true, that is, true most of the time, or not true.

For that reason, truth differentiates among individuals thorough their contrasting opinions. But, truth is something that everyone believes to be correct. Thus, it greatly depends on what’s true in the minds of the people. On the contrary, truth that’s spoken with bad intent is considered to be worse than a lie. Hence, truth is an expression, symbol or statement that corresponds to reality and happiness.

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,