What is "truth?"

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Hedrick on February 8, 2008 at 7:22am

Which of course begs the question... is there truth?

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Permalink Reply by Jason on February 8, 2008 at 9:53am

The Truth is I dont think anyone knows what is being sought after by seeking the Truth.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa J. Berry-Tayman on February 8, 2008 at 7:13pm

I think truth is like beauty - in the eye of the beholder.

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Permalink Reply by Joh Padgett on February 9, 2008 at 5:42am

I like chocolate milk. And that is the God's honest Truth.

Seriously though, truth has as many varieties as there are observers of whatever event is supposedly revealing truth. Is it true that a tree fell in the forest? Sure, there it is on the ground. Is it true no one observed the fall when it happened? Sure, no eyewitness accounts.

Does that mean since no one heard the sound of the tree falling that it fell silently? Well, that's the conundrum isn't it? Since no one heard it you could say it is true that it fell silently, but since no one was there to observe it we will never know for certain if that one particular tree made a sound when it fell because it is already down and cannot have a "do-over".

Common sense must prevail to make the conclusion that it didn't fall silently and made a horrible crashing sound on its way down, but then you are talking about matters of faith at that point. Is faith sufficient to ascertain what is true? For many folks it is. The real question is can truth ever be determined without faith? Not necessarily religious faith either. Faith in science, faith in yourself, faith in your family or friends play a role in how we determine what we consider to be true.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Hedrick on February 9, 2008 at 7:54am

or is it subjective? what if your chocolate milk were made from camel 's milk and unsweetened cocoa beans? or what if you were at the fridge this morning and the chocolate milk had expired 1/9 (but you didn't notice), would you for sure like it then? or is it just a fact that you like chocolate milk... based on all best possibilities of said chocolate milk choices?

and that starts the merry go round... are truth and fact the same? which... imho, of course they aren't, because that pesky aesthetic makes something true for one that isn't for another, yet both can be fact or not fact at all.....

so has anyone guessed what my minor in college was yet? :P

BTW Joh, I recognize you from somewhere and it's driving me crazy where... any ideas?

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Permalink Reply by Carol Wellman on November 22, 2008 at 1:19pm

Truth is whatever you want it to be

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