RE: A question for those who believe truth is not absolute
June 1, 2016 at 11:27 am
(This post was last modified: June 1, 2016 at 11:28 am by Whateverist.)
Truth isn't about things themselves but rather about claims made regarding those things. Truths are therefore about the communicative function, not things in themselves.
Suppose someone is interested in determining the property of a new material. So he runs an experiment and reaches a conclusion.
A second person inquires of the first what his findings were and is told. The second person then asks "is that the truth?" What is the first person to say? "Yes, I wasn't lying about it." Or maybe the first person would qualify his answer in terms of the capabilities of the measuring devices used.
If the second person then asks "But is that the absolute, objective truth?" What is there left for the first person to say? It is the factual (true, not contrived) result of the experiment that was run. They might discuss how fitting the experiment was in determining the property in question or how competently the obtained results were interpreted. But that's the end of it.
There isn't anything extra to do to determine the "absolute" or "objective" truth which isn't just the same thing one did to answer the original question concerning the property of material in question. The 'objective truth' has no independent existence apart from the world and the language we use to describe it.
Suppose someone is interested in determining the property of a new material. So he runs an experiment and reaches a conclusion.
A second person inquires of the first what his findings were and is told. The second person then asks "is that the truth?" What is the first person to say? "Yes, I wasn't lying about it." Or maybe the first person would qualify his answer in terms of the capabilities of the measuring devices used.
If the second person then asks "But is that the absolute, objective truth?" What is there left for the first person to say? It is the factual (true, not contrived) result of the experiment that was run. They might discuss how fitting the experiment was in determining the property in question or how competently the obtained results were interpreted. But that's the end of it.
There isn't anything extra to do to determine the "absolute" or "objective" truth which isn't just the same thing one did to answer the original question concerning the property of material in question. The 'objective truth' has no independent existence apart from the world and the language we use to describe it.
