To those where who believe truth is relative:

When someone throws at you the question "Is it the absolute truth that truth is relative?", how do you respond to that? I have read some attempts on other sites but they seem too complicated for me to understand their point. So explain to me like I'm five, what is unreasonable about the question itself?

It appears to be a contradiction in terms, so that the answer "yes" is paradoxical.

If we answer "yes", we have an absolute truth; but then the claim itself is that truth is relative and not absolute. So the statement cannot be true. It's like the Liar paradox.

This doesn't say anything much about absolute or relative truth, other than their incompatibility within statements.

I do see where you're going, you're saying "it's not absolutely true that truth is relative". But if truth is relative, absolute truth is a meaningless concept and so is irrelevant. Truth could also be some sort of mixture of the two.

It's probably safe to knock out the word absolute or objective from any sentence.
Since we can't prove we're not brains in vats or in a sim, even the words absolute or objective are relative.

(May 29, 2016 at 7:14 am)robvalue Wrote: It appears to be a contradiction in terms, so that the answer "yes" is paradoxical.

If we answer "yes", we have an absolute truth; but then the claim itself is that truth is relative and not absolute. So the statement cannot be true. It's like the Liar paradox.

This doesn't say anything much about absolute or relative truth, other than their incompatibility within statements.

I do see where you're going, you're saying "it's not absolutely true that truth is relative". But if truth is relative, absolute truth is a meaningless concept and so is irrelevant. Truth could also be some sort of mixture of the two.

Ok, regarding the Liar paradox, perhaps the statement cannot be true because you cannot assert being a consistent liar without contradicting yourself. So, similarly, why is it not the case that one cannot assert truth is consistently relative without contradicting oneself.

And to comment on your second-to-last sentence: "if truth is relative, then absolute truth is meaningless and irrelevant". To be honest, though, I'm still having a really difficult time seeing how this isn't asserting some absolute truth.

How are you looking at truth?

For a while, I've been thinking, perhaps truth isn't a singular thing, but something that we have an infinite amount of, some of them absolute, some relative.

(May 29, 2016 at 7:44 am)ignoramus Wrote: It's probably safe to knock out the word absolute or objective from any sentence.
Since we can't prove we're not brains in vats or in a sim, even the words absolute or objective are relative.

Even if we're brains in vats or whatever, how does this invalidate absolute truths? The truth in this case would be that we are brains in vats. Maybe we're confusing our knowledge/belief of what is true for what is actually true (independently of our beliefs)?

My response, sliding scale yes.

Isn't there only perception of truth?

(May 29, 2016 at 7:11 am)Irrational Wrote: To those where who believe truth is relative:

When someone throws at you the question "Is it the absolute truth that truth is relative?", how do you respond to that? I have read some attempts on other sites but they seem too complicated for me to understand their point. So explain to me like I'm five, what is unreasonable about the question itself?

Is it true that a pebble is big?  Yes, to an ant.  No, to a person.  It is absolutely true that a pebble is big to an ant, and small to a person.

But when you say, "THE truth," the question is begged and done-- if there is a single truth, an archetypal, capital-T "Truth," it must be absolute.  If there are many truths, then some may be absolute and some relative.  So I'd say that it is an absolute truth that some truths may be relative.

Trying to conflate logical equivocations is like trying to herd cats.  But the real question is this-- should I spend my time trying to herd cats? 

Q) Is it the absolute truth that truth is relative?
A: Yes, relatively for me it is absolutely true

Is truth relative?
Probably.