The Truth (1 Viewer)

[Cherries]

How would you define the truth?

This guy in my class rekons the truth is just fact, but i'm not too sure.

I rekon the truth is just a manipulation.

Like how you believe in Santa Claus when your little because your parents and other kids are constantly telling you he exists. To you the truth is that Santa Claus exists. You were manipulated into believing that.

anyway, i was just curious as to what other people believe the truth to be?

 

[Minai]

truth is based on context, but there are truths that are universal too - such as..say "everyone dies at some stage" that can be characterised as a truth, because that statement is not false or a lie
also, wat u percieve to be true is based on your knowledge and understanding i suppose..sorta like its based on your values sometimes

 

[Alex]

Truth = Fact + Interpretation

Thats my algorithm for truth, simple yet effective

 

[tuning_wizard]

I found this website when researching truth with an essay on truth by Peter Landry. sorry, dunno the site, but it says that truth
"is a state of mind free of errpr, a state of mind which is an accurate reflection of things in existence, of the things about you. It is ageless and constant. It does not vary of shift, it is a piece of unalterable reality."

He makes some good points i think. what do you all reckon?

 

[Arch-man]

The truth is relative to everyone. I have hit the wall, you say I hit the wall hard, another say I have hit it with malice, I say I just hit the wall.

The truth is what actually happened, which each person must decide for themselves.

 

[BlackJack]

My spiel:

The truth itself is what really happened, and is considered separate from subjectivity. Yes, it's like the site. However, humans would only have interpretations and evidence to work with. Let's use Arch-man's, and say I hit a wall. I think I've hit the wall hard, because I have a heck of a headache, but that's irrelevant. It's an opinion, an interpretation and is independatnt from what is truth (look at it this way, nothing I say and think will change the fact that I've bashed my head against the wall, being stupid).

I do have an query though, if what we think can become the truth, can we move mountains if we think hard enough? Don't take offense, but I'd certain like to see something happen, considering the HSC is 10 days away...

 

[Alex]

i restate my def.

interpretation + fact = truth. Which is what u people are saying but wasting space. ITS ALL ABOUT BEING CONCISE AND PRECISE

 

[BlackJack]

I beg your pardon? I used a different definition.
truth = fact
opinion = fact + interpretation
new HSC syllabus = :axedeath: = not me, I'd get an underling to do my dirtywork.

And these people are speaking Japanese.

 

[Alex]

u got it all wrong

truth is not a set thing

therefore truth cannot equal fact
because someone might see s11 as horriffic (civilised society) and others will enjoy striking america (terrorists). See.......

Anyway, the truth is different to every person whereas the facts remain stagnant. The way in which a truth is made is through interpreting the facts as a person would.

Say I am a terrorist. The facts are that the trade center has been hit. My interpretation is that it is good. My truth is that it is succesful and a good mission.

If I were a citizen of USA. The fact is that the trade center had been hit. My interpretation is that it is bad. My truth is that the damn terrrorists killed many innocent people.

So, I come back to Fact + Interpretation of those facts = The Truth

 

[BlackJack]

I was checking to see what the syllabus says about this, but I haven't got anywhere yet.

I had suspicions at the start that the staff was doing something peculiar to the english language and course. Bloody post-modernist infiltrators.

I used the Macquarie dictionary (3rd edition, '01) instead, which had definition of truth = fact as the main one. So goes the few others, except one had 'a fact or principle accepted as true' in def. 5, but I understand your point.
Britannica sidesteps it.

We also almost got into this at school, but the teacher stopped us to finish the syllabus work on time.

This might be food for thought:
From the English syllabus C5 mass media:
"5 (The mass media promotes chagnges in English usage)
5.1 Teachers should encourage students to observe the creation of new words, changes in the meaning of current words... ...in the media."

(to put simply: I have the definition from some dictionaries, you have it from the HSC people)

Think about it this way, we're using different sets of definitions of english words. Who is right? You know I think you're wrong, I know you think I'm wrong, but are we really thinking?

 

[Alex]

Fair enough then. If you look at some def.'s such as the oxford one. It says that truth is "what is accepted as true" (one of the fundamental truths).

In this case you could say that when a person analyses the facts and interprets it, it is their fundamental truth. Follow?

 

[BlackJack]

True.
I see.

Edit: The syllabus I referred to actually came from the yr 7-10 nglish syllabus, I just found that out.

 

[Alex]

He has seen the light

 

[BlackJack]

And he is free to interpret the light however he wants to.
He likes the possibilities this light offers. :gridnod:

note to Cherries: sorry for hijacking this thread. I prefer to up the message count via extended digressions.