“Truth is most
often used to mean in accord with fact or reality or
fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal.”
Is truth an actual thing or is everyone’s idea
of truth different? Can one person’s
truth be untrue to someone else? Do things need to be accepted to be true?
If there
is no “truth”, then there can be no knowledge. Truth, in terms of TOK is
universal. A lot of things don’t even have to be accepted or believed to be
true. For example, I believe that 5 + 5 = 11. However, the truth behind this
math is 5 + 5 = 10. In regardless whether I believe or accept the truth, it
remains at 5 + 5 = 10.
“Relativism is the concept
that points of view have no absolute truth or validity, having only relative, subjective value according to
differences in perception and consideration.”
The
concept of Truth Relativism is a view that absolute truths do not exist, and
truth depends on something else. To throw in an example, the expression “beauty
is in the eye of the beholder”, what is beautiful or ugly depends on the beholder,
who is the person viewing it so it assumes that an absolute view of beauty does
not exist. Relativists would believe that absolute truths do not exist. They
would believe instead, that truth depends on external factors such as
experience, culture, etc…
In my
opinion, I think empiricism links to this content of truth. Empiricism is how
we obtain knowledge from this world and is one of the greatest utility. In
various ways, our senses are correct but it can also deceive us. The knowledge
we obtain from the world isn’t always the same, we’re just more dependent to
the opinions surrounded by people. Not only this affects it but our environment
and our experiences can affect the way we perceive things. What we see may
differ from what is truly there. Our mind often creates an image opposite to
what is actually there. This relates to truth because it both obtains knowledge and without them we would be more isolated, causing unable to communicate with nature and human.
An Inspiring quote I heard during TOK class "It works even if
nobody is prepared to acknowledge it".
Bible and the Koran
Can they both hold the truth?
Expanding…
Good work Kun - you have grasped these new ideas and explained them clearly. I am also pleased that you linked them to the Empiricism topic from last term. Can you link these ideas to the other ways of knowing too? (language, reason, emotion, classification)
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