Truth is, there is None. (a short essay)
The only real truth is that there are none. Or rather, that there are many, and none of them are true. It's all in the perception, and no matter the protestations and complaints of the coterie, truth is entirely subjective and not something to be bandied about extravagantly without regard for the hypocrisy its use implies. Placing the phrase "This is truth" before or after a statement does not automatically validate the preceding or following, and wanfully crying "I only speak the truth" is almost a guarantee that one does not.
Actually, one's views on "truth" wholly depend on one's views of "real", as it were. Since the question of what exactly is real vesus unreal is one that is as yet unanswered (and likely to remain so for quite some time), this path is best left untrod for now. Though, perhaps a quick jaunt is in order: "Reality" depends on perception, and perception varies from one mind to another, often from day to day, hour to hour, within the same mind. Example: the idea of what is a "sad" event (an abstract feeling, at best) to one may, in fact, be considered the opposite to another. If two minds cannot agree on the reality of a statement/action, then how can it be determined to be real? And if its reality is questioned, would not its truth be then brought under suspicion? Thusly, (if this logic is sound), reality and truth are wholly dependent on the subject, and there can be no one reality/truth. And so it goes on, every statement can be proven both real and unreal, both true and false, occasionally both states existing concurrently. Often, abstract concepts are ascribed as real or true, but their very abstraction defies the labels; describe the color "blue", the feeling "happy", in a way that someone who has never experienced it would be able to understand. There lies the wall between abstraction and truth.
This leads, naturally, to the concept of "self-truth", or what one considers to be true to one's self, one's own nature. As this is an even more personal and singular version of the "real" fallacy, one can see where the breakdown of truth begins. If one cannot hold up his own thoughts/feelings as true/real, then the whole of existence is laid bare as suspect. This leads down the path to Nihilism and the statement of Aleister Crowley's "Nothing is true, everything is permitted." If such a belief were to become widespread, the consequences on human society would be to have, in Yeats' words, "mere anarchy . . . loosed upon the world." Society, and human culture as a whole, survives based on what can be termed a "mututally agreed upon delusion", a universal lie, if you will, that there are some truths held as unassailable. This does not mean they are exempt from the preceding argument, the argument is just ignored or not acknowledged. This is reflected in a line from (of all things) the television series Seinfeld. A show from the 1990's, Seinfeld purported to be "about Nothing", both in the literal and the philosophical sense, and it was as close to a nihilistic portrayal of modern life as was widely available at the time. The line, spoken by the character of George Costanza, is "It's not a lie if you believe it." A more concise way of saying that the truth depends on one's belief, and that once one ceases to believe in something, it ceases to be true. As before, perception equals reality equals truth.
The nature of truth is fickle, and the surface can scarce be scratched as to the definition and delineation of it as both abstract concept and concrete formation of logic/belief. The perpetuation of the mutually agreed upon delusion will keep it as such for the forseeable future, though one can certainly hope that someday people will realize the essential meaninglessness of declaring things true or false based on the whims and vagaries of society, mass culture, and their own peculiar brain chemistrys and predjudices. The continual reliance of politicians and their brethren on statements such as "I'm a straight shooter", "I do not lie", "I only deal in truths", or "Everything I say is true" only point out the shallowness of the speaker and the inherent fallacy of their arguments, not to mention the implied falseness of their statements. The only truth one can trust, it seems, is one's own. And even that can be a lie, truthfully.
Actually, one's views on "truth" wholly depend on one's views of "real", as it were. Since the question of what exactly is real vesus unreal is one that is as yet unanswered (and likely to remain so for quite some time), this path is best left untrod for now. Though, perhaps a quick jaunt is in order: "Reality" depends on perception, and perception varies from one mind to another, often from day to day, hour to hour, within the same mind. Example: the idea of what is a "sad" event (an abstract feeling, at best) to one may, in fact, be considered the opposite to another. If two minds cannot agree on the reality of a statement/action, then how can it be determined to be real? And if its reality is questioned, would not its truth be then brought under suspicion? Thusly, (if this logic is sound), reality and truth are wholly dependent on the subject, and there can be no one reality/truth. And so it goes on, every statement can be proven both real and unreal, both true and false, occasionally both states existing concurrently. Often, abstract concepts are ascribed as real or true, but their very abstraction defies the labels; describe the color "blue", the feeling "happy", in a way that someone who has never experienced it would be able to understand. There lies the wall between abstraction and truth.
This leads, naturally, to the concept of "self-truth", or what one considers to be true to one's self, one's own nature. As this is an even more personal and singular version of the "real" fallacy, one can see where the breakdown of truth begins. If one cannot hold up his own thoughts/feelings as true/real, then the whole of existence is laid bare as suspect. This leads down the path to Nihilism and the statement of Aleister Crowley's "Nothing is true, everything is permitted." If such a belief were to become widespread, the consequences on human society would be to have, in Yeats' words, "mere anarchy . . . loosed upon the world." Society, and human culture as a whole, survives based on what can be termed a "mututally agreed upon delusion", a universal lie, if you will, that there are some truths held as unassailable. This does not mean they are exempt from the preceding argument, the argument is just ignored or not acknowledged. This is reflected in a line from (of all things) the television series Seinfeld. A show from the 1990's, Seinfeld purported to be "about Nothing", both in the literal and the philosophical sense, and it was as close to a nihilistic portrayal of modern life as was widely available at the time. The line, spoken by the character of George Costanza, is "It's not a lie if you believe it." A more concise way of saying that the truth depends on one's belief, and that once one ceases to believe in something, it ceases to be true. As before, perception equals reality equals truth.
The nature of truth is fickle, and the surface can scarce be scratched as to the definition and delineation of it as both abstract concept and concrete formation of logic/belief. The perpetuation of the mutually agreed upon delusion will keep it as such for the forseeable future, though one can certainly hope that someday people will realize the essential meaninglessness of declaring things true or false based on the whims and vagaries of society, mass culture, and their own peculiar brain chemistrys and predjudices. The continual reliance of politicians and their brethren on statements such as "I'm a straight shooter", "I do not lie", "I only deal in truths", or "Everything I say is true" only point out the shallowness of the speaker and the inherent fallacy of their arguments, not to mention the implied falseness of their statements. The only truth one can trust, it seems, is one's own. And even that can be a lie, truthfully.
Labels: philosophy, writing
posted by nicholas reed at 9:06 PM
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