7thMay
Religions and Truth
Religions generally presuppose that humans have access to absolute truth. However, how do we know and, if we do, can we confirm that there definitely exists a strict division between truth and falsehood in all cases? The fallibility of perception and the limits of human ability seem to suggest that truth is not absolute.
In other words, if we define a lie as an intentional misrepresentation of the truth, then there seems to be a presupposition that truth can be known absolutely. So, if we extend the definition of truth to be contingent on human experience of reality, as a filter of sorts, and not truth as a direct statement about reality, then that seems to make truth a popularity contest, like a genetic variation of Wikipedia if you will. This makes religion’s presupposition naive.
The Atheist Messiah says 16th May @ 19:49
I wrestle with similar questions. I have gotten good at the fine art of fence-sitting even though I consider this stance intellectually lazy and cowardly in some respects. I just find it difficult to make what I consider to be sound decisions when I think I don’t have enough information or haven’t thought it all the way through.
Truth is one of these subjects I still am undecided about, but to be fair, I think this is one of the more complicated subjects to think about when you get under the surface of it.
It reminds me of Descartes’ Meditations and of epistemology in general. Truth is an abstract to me. It appears to be an entirely man-made concept, but in some ways could function without us, like a tree falling in the woods.
I’ve gotten this far already and have failed to even mention a definition of truth, but then that is because of the subjective nature of the word, much like “God”; some even confuse the two.
I don’t like the concept of absolutes and I can’t think of a word that is a lock as a truly absolute concept, so I can’t include truth as an absolute.
Then, as I spin around on the fence, I hate to think in entirely relative terms, although this seems more appropriate to me concerning truth.
Currently I have treated truth like I do much of my concepts of morality; that is, make comparisons of different situations and make my decision based on what makes the most sense given the perceived facts and those involved.
Truth has different meanings in different situations and should be considered with all of the known information at the time.
This explanation has probably not satisfied you in the least, but once again, truth is a difficult concept.