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TRUTH

Nietzche stated that "in a similarly limited way, man wants the truth; he desires the agreeable life-preserving consequences of truth." This seems to a major idea that holds the blocks of philosophy together. Truth in fact, is the ultimate star philosophers reach for. Many other questioned issues are mere comets when compared to the quest for what truth is, how truth comes about, and what truth means. This paper will explore two of the most important questions concerning truth. The first of these questions refers to what constitutes truth, what defines it. There are many agreeable and opposing opinions regarding what defines truth. These opinions will help us understand what truth is. Once we know how it is defined, we will advance one step closer to understanding the second of our questions. The second question refers to how truth is known, the answers it gives us, and the criteria of truth. This is important since we must know how to test our definitions of truth,

to find truths. We must know how truth is known to fully understand it. There seems to be several criteria for taking truth as such. We will explore that in the proceeding.

Let us begin by dissecting the first question. What constitutes truth? What de


The only problems I have with the preceding is that there still is the possibility of falsity in whichever belief you produce. Intrinsic validity and Reid's theory of intuitionism both prove correct to their purpose but there still exists doubt. Any belief that does not also explain why it is not false is inadequate. There appears to be some great value in the preceding paragraphs yet it does not attain the supreme one may require to adopt as their own beliefs. One may use intuitionism to prove something true while falsity exists in this belief at the same time. I cannot truly believe that there is no falsity in something I have not examined. I cannot take an idea as truth without dissecting it. This contradicts with Suzuki's view that we "kill reality by dissecting it."

There is also great value in defining truth in terms of trust. We must, in fact, trust ourselves or we can never find truth. If we believe there is truth in an original belief, we must trust this notion and take it as a truth. If we believe there is no right for us to believe something without sound evidence, we must trust ourselves and seek truth more headstrong. We will never reach or know truth without trusting ourselves once we arrive at it. We cannot develop or verify truth without trust either.

William Clifford helps to define truth by stating in The Ethics of Belief that truth may exist without being proved with sound evidence, although, this is usually accomplished by stifling our doubts. We may push our doubts to the back of our mind and take a belief as true but this is both dishonest and unpresentable. It should be noted, however, that Clifford admits there is the possibility of truth in one's first instinct. All in all, truth may exist without sound evidence although it will have no meaning or hold any standing if we have not earned this truth with investigation. He relates a story into this argument about a ship owner. The ship owner sends a crew out to sea knowing that the ship is not sea worthy, yet believing it will not sink. The ship actually sinks and kills the crew but that is not important. Is the ship owner's belief that the ship is sea-worthy true? Clifford argues that he had no sound evidence backing this truth up therefore it is false. Is it false though? This belief is surely true in some sense; the belief is true in the ship owner's mind. Doesn't this make it true? It is true to at least one person, therefore making it true in some sense. The ship owner believed what he thought was true so this shows that truth did exist in this scenario. The validity of the truth is not important in proving that truth is subjective in accordance with, in this case, the ship owner. The validity of the truth, however, does not exist in accordance with Clifford's theory. We cannot simply acquire a truth by pushing the doubts that come along with the idea to the back of our minds. The ship owner sincerely believed in the soundness of his ship, however, had no right to believe in this since he did not back up his belief with investigation. Clifford argues that even if one is sure their belief is true, they still have the responsibility of investigating it. This may be difficult this most would be biased in their investigations if they feel one way towards a belief. In this case, the ship owner would feel biased towards believing his ship is sound, even if he investigates it.

Professor L.A. Reid defines truth as " simply....the quality of knowledge perfectly fulfilling its functions" in his Knowledge and Truth. He feels that truth is knowledge doing its job. This is to say that truth is a natural function of knowledge, another example of truth existing in every knowledge. Reid also professes the theory of intuitionism. This says that a belief i

Some topics in this essay:
Ethics Belief, Theories Pragmatism, Basis Knowledge, , Mao Zedong, Satischandra Chatterjee, René Descartes, Indian Philosophy, Satori Suzuki, Knowledge Truth, original idea, ship owner, intrinsic validity, truth self-evident, truth exists, character knowledge, sound evidence, truth exist, belief true, idea truth, truth original idea, truth self-evident character, self-evident character knowledge, indian western theories, original idea truth,

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Approximate Word count = 2555
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)


  

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