examining "truth"

[stafl]

So, since a certain poll has raised so many more questions than answers, shall we dive into those age-old questions:
what is truth? Truth (with a capital T)?
What is true? True?
Is truth subjective and different for each of us? Is there some sort of objective Truth that transcends/stands outside of our own subjective interpretations of truth?
Is truth somehow a combination of subjective and objective?

How would we ever know, or even begin to answer these questions?
And if we did find an answer that felt right to us, how could we ever presume to think it's the right answer for anyone but ourselves?

: running away to go read William James' Varieties of Religious Experience again

[DaryLLL]

Personal truth:

I am a spiritual entity having a physical experience.

Anybody else or are we all or ?

[stafl]

Originally Posted by DaryLLL

Anybody else or are we all or ?

or scared? we won't bite, honest!

30 people voted on that poll, that says to me they think they know what "truth" is... right? So what is it? How do you know?

[Paxetbonum]

Originally Posted by stafl

So, since a certain poll has raised so many more questions than answers, shall we dive into those age-old questions:
what is truth? Truth (with a capital T)?
What is true? True?
Is truth subjective and different for each of us? Is there some sort of objective Truth that transcends/stands outside of our own subjective interpretations of truth?
Is truth somehow a combination of subjective and objective?

How would we ever know, or even begin to answer these questions?
And if we did find an answer that felt right to us, how could we ever presume to think it's the right answer for anyone but ourselves?

: running away to go read William James' Varieties of Religious Experience again

Okay I'll bite.

1. What is truth?
Truth is the conformity between thought and reality.

2. What is true?
Anything that is properly ordered to its end. For example a coffee grinder that grinds cofee beans to their correct consitancy in order that I may brew a tasty cup is true. It fulfills the function for which it was intended. If it did not grind properly it would be false because it would no longer be ordered to the end for which it was intended. (Oh false false coffee grinder!)

3. Is truth subjective or objective?

Truth is universal and objecitve but personal experiences of the truth may vary. Often perceptions of reality vary because of a lack of a due good inherent in the person and do not change the universality of the truth. If a color blind man runs a red light and insists that he saw a green light he will still have ran a red light, his privation of a due good changes his experience of reality, not the reality itself.

4. How do we know if we have found the truth?

The truth exists in the conformity of our thoughts to reality, in a harmonious relationship. When one encounters the truth they are able to order all aspects of their life harmoniously to the highest good.

Now this could bring us into a much larger conversation of what are the goods to be pursued as true and what is the proper ordering of these goods and what is the highest good of all but lets tackle one thing at a time.

[mothernurture]

Spiritual truth to me is a thought, belief, idea that speaks to my heart in a way that leads me to a strong sense of peace.

Truth leads one back to the most essential.... and that is love...

[stafl]

If truth is the agreement of thoughts/beliefs with reality, what about things we thought were true and later learned were not? Were those truths never really true, even though we believed them and they agreed with our reality at the time? If so, that definition doesn't work.
Or does that mean that truth itself is subject to change, depending on what we know? Is truth not black and white, but only shades of grey?
Are some things more true than others?

I really want to think that there is some sort of objective Truth out there. Something that is true for everyone, everywhere, througout all times. But my mind cannot grasp such a concept, try as hard as I may. And even if such a Truth exists, surely we shall never know anything about it.

I think truth depends on what each individual perceives to be true at any given moment. Since we all have different points of view, what is true for one may not be true for any other, or even for that same person under different circumstances.