It starts with the elementary observation that there are different sensibilities—people react differently, morally, to different things...[it's the belief that] I’ve got my truth, you’ve got your truth, and there’s no metaphysical—or absolute[...]—norm or value knocking about in the universe.At face value, relativism seems simple enough, but once you observe more deeply the implications of there not being any such thing as absolute truth, you must ask the question: is there even a reason to ask questions if there are no right answers? To me, certainly, this undermines the goal of philosophy in general—if there's no knowledge to obtain, why even go about trying to obtain it?
Of course, any discussion about relativism (or even beliefs in general) will often lead to religion, morality, ethics, and many other arenas which have "open-to-interpretation" components. As you discover when you begin to really examine these things, some things that seem blatantly obvious truth to you may not be at all what they seem.
For example, in a Q&A session, famed American Astrophysicist Dr. Neil Degrasse Tyson was asked about his thoughts on UFOs and UFO sightings, specifically. Dr. Tyson talks about the Argument from Ignorance and the oft-overlooked invalidity of eyewitness testimony.
Obviously, Dr. Tyson there is somewhat undermining our intellectual and perceptual abilities as humans, which is based in scientific fact. We humans are sometimes incapable of even coming to conclusions when placed face-to-face with something.
So, ultimately, the question must be answered, is there even such a thing as truth? And more importantly, based on what we know about our own fallibility, is there even a way that we can know this truth? If we can't know truth, is there any point in trying to obtain it? The floor is now open for discussion.
Relativism opens itself up for interpretation and your opinions depends on your sociological influences. However I will argue and say that every question has an absolute truth; whether its socially accepted or not does not make it any less true. Unfortunately in most of the questions we will never know the absolute truth until our lives are over and maybe even then we might not be given the chance to know the truth.
ReplyDeleteTo try to answer the question:
ReplyDelete"the question must be answered, is there even such a thing as truth?"
I think if we can find one truth such as "we all need air, food, and/or water to live" or "you can't, physically, be at the class in MTSU and at work in Nashville at the same time" then there's starting point. Would that be applicable to morals? let us try ..
I am from group 1. I think when we are speaking on a universal level then the truth gets hazy, but at some point as an individual should we except our own personal truths in life?
ReplyDeleteIt's certainly a good question. And yes, personal truths are much more important to my own quality of life.
ReplyDeleteI believe there is absolute truth, but I don't believe that it is feasible for us to obtain the absolute truth about everything. Does this mean we should stop trying to find the truth or should we plug away figure out as much as we can?
ReplyDeleteThere's definitely good outcomes in trying to obtain the truth even if we will never undoubtingly know it as truth. Even though we may not find whatever absolute truth we're looking for, we still learn more about our own personal beliefs, or what we percieve as individuals as truth. Learning about what others around us percieve also benefits us by allowing for more understanding of life, like why certain things (morals, ethics, or any religion for example) are percieved the way that they are. With more knowledge about that, we can make more confident decisions in choosing what we believe and accept as our own personal truths. Even if it may not be true in the absolute or universal sense, we as a society are what make or break these personal truths that may never become firmly cemented as fact, so to say it is pointless trying to search for that universal truth would only be true if that's the only thing you're searching for, because then you may only percieve that what you're learning from that journey is a waste of time when you don't find the answer(s) you're looking for. So basically, keeping an open mind and having the will to listen to all sorts of perceptions with attempts to understand them can allow for greater wisdom in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the topic of religion is a good example of trying to obtain the truth about something that you know deep down youll never truley know, its more of a comfort to yourself. Almost everything in life has an absoloute truth, very few do not those are the ones that will stump you til the day you die...Literally.
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