(September 28, 2015 at 9:20 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: I may end up regretting participating in this thread, but here goes anyway. It would be good for a precise definition to be given for "absolute truth" before comments begin, but as that is not likely to be forthcoming in a satisfactory manner, I will proceed without it.
You have given an excellent start. Many people confuse beliefs, knowledge, and truth, but they are three different things (for anyone who needs it, just look them up in an ordinary dictionary; Oxford is usually a good choice).
Instead of "self-defeating," I prefer to say that it is self-contradictory to say that there is no truth. If there were no truth, then it must be false to say that there is no truth. It could not possibly be true to say that there is no truth.
As for examples of truths, there are many that are much easier to deal with than what you have suggested. I know some truths, and will list a few of them. Whether everyone who reads this post knows them or not is something about which I will not presently comment. Nor will I offer any proof, as that will get us into the question of what constitutes a proof, which gets us more in the direction of knowledge than truth, which would be getting us a bit off topic. Here are some truths:
1 + 1 = 2
All bachelors are unmarried.
If all men are mortal and Socrates is a man, then Socrates is mortal.
Some statements are true.
Anyone who has trouble with the above is someone with whom I do not want to bother having a conversation. So I will offer no proof of any of them, and let others, if they wish to do so, argue about them with whoever has a problem with them.
Thank you for these points. In my previous post I mentioned that I was already doing exactly what you suggested. I don't think it would be healthy to constructive conversation to slap a giant dictionary on the table just after introducing myself... lol... so I've been printing out some pertinent definitions that I can carry in my notebook.
I don't think I know how to argue with someone who cannot accept the sort of "simple truths" that you've mentioned. It's like talking about "nothing" when we've never had a "nothing" with which to compare "something".
