“There are no absolute distinctions between what is true and what is false” discuss the claim

The ability of mankind to question what is true and what is false developed into an argument debated
over years among philosophers. Such argument was raised by man himself, in the journey of self
determination. During this journey, our thirst for knowledge is in line with the name “Homo sapiens”
which translates from the Latin as: “Wise man” or “Knowing man”1. From this continuous questioning of
life, existence and ultimately truth; man has created different ways, ideas and philosophies to come to
terms reality, but ironically man’s effort to create an assembly of ideas to come to the ultimate
characteristics of truth helped to provoke the action it was most intended to avoid: it disabled and created
a barrier for the construction of an ideological Absolute truth, there can not be an Absolute truth based on
different beliefs and perspectives, or any Area of knowledge (“You have your way. I have my way. As for
the right way and only way, it doesn’t exist.”2). Therefore, the debate still present in our daily lives
implies that it is impossible to consider something as absolutely false or true.
The barriers that impede our conception of distinguish truth from falsity are divided into three
categories: Religion, Culture and Science. Those are the three strongest, phenomena in contemporary
society relating to an explanation for existence and patterning of classifying true and false. When
addressing truth from a cultural point of view, statements such as “Different cultures have different
truths” are very common. These kind of statements relate to the core of the idea of relativism, which
states that “the understanding is defined by each individual person” meaning that truth is not discovered
but created by a person in order to fit in that person’s ideological patterns, culture or community; thus the
use and application of the word “truth” is vague, as it refers to a strong belief system rather than an actual
truth statement. This idea of relativism states that each culture or individual within a belief reaches
different truths as they are influenced by distinct backgrounds, hence truth is subjective. The idea of
cultural relativism appears in different Areas of Knowledge for example in The Arts regarding the matter
of beauty. The concept of beauty varies from cultural to culture. Yet, this idea is controversial when
accounting in History, as it has been repeatedly seen in the story of humankind. An idea, even when
personal and subjective, tries to become objective, as a strong belief in a subjective truth can lead an
individual to impose this so call “truth” upon others beliefs. A clear example for this is the Crusades
which intended to Christianize everyone no matter the cost.
However, the example regarding the Crusades stops being classified as a Cultural Relativism and starts
being classified as Religious absolutism, as it was based on the belief of a single, one and true only
Absolute truth. The idea of an Absolute truth contradicts the principle of relativism by questioning its
reasoning “If relativism were true, we could never be mistaken, lie or even learn”. Another and more
common, counterclaim of Relativism is that is one relativist says “Truth is relative” which would instantly

1 Human (online) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human (accessed 8/8/2010)

2 Friedrich Nietzsche: Human, All-too-Human -Socratic society (Online)
http://socraticsociety.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/there-are-no-absolute-truths/ (accessed
11/6/2010)
contradict itself as the statement said consists on an absolute idea. When addressing truth from an
Absolutist point of view statements like “Truth is that which can be universally accepted” are made.
Absolutism states that one does not have to have evidence in order for there to be absolute truth, as the
principle of an absolute truth, a God, Genesis is faith. The bible is an example where an absolute truth is
talked about and put forward. The in this sense can not be tampered with over time or through reader,
ergo, the truth in the Bible should be true for everyone.
In contrast to the Religious beliefs, science argues the universe was created by an explosion called the
“Big Bang”. This statement may be considered, also, an Absolute statement but regarding different
ideologies. Science is often chosen as the best possible answer for the question of existence, as it is based
on intuition, assumption, and probability and, chiefly, the scientific method; that does not make science
pragmatically inaccurate, it only reflects the limits of human’s perspective and the difficulty in portraying
the complexity of nature. Science makes observations, hypothesis, tests theories through methods and
experiments, hence it should be accurate when stating truths before everyone starts believing it is true.
However, science shares principles with the idea of an Absolute truth, science can not or should not give
any absolute certainty as what is consider true today in science can be proven wrong tomorrow. This was
the case of the geocentric method being proved wrong by the heliocentric theory. This is explained by
Albert Einstein when he said that “No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single
experiment can prove me wrong”. This means that science can not in fact make absolute truths, as that
would be an inappropriate representation of reality; nevertheless claiming absolute truths about anything
related to science would be inaccurate as it is only based on theories. Yet, probabilities about the truth of a
theory are so practically useful that it can be treated as an absolute truth, as long as we are mindful of the
caveats3.

As a way to overcome the barrier imposed by man, there were truth test created that help on process of
classifying something as true or false. These tests can be considered as an attempt to resolve the debate
regarding truth and false. The tests are Constructivist, Pragmatic, Coherence, Consensus and
Correspondence theory and each one is related to different Areas of Knowledge and the Ways of
Knowledge. I am only going to analyze Correspondence and Coherence Theory, as I believe those relate
more to the question at hand.

Correspondence theory is based on empirical evidence and physical reality, hence it would seem to be
related with the AoK History and the WoK Perception: The aim of history is to find or to come to a
conclusion about the validity of events in the past and the truth behind them.Correspondence theory
relates to the foundation of historical truths ,which are based to a certain extent on the validity of some
long passed events in order to come to a truthful conclusion of the facts: “ What is history but a fable
agreed upon”4. History is based on books and diaries among other artifacts that may or may not be
accurate. An example is the idea we have of Napoleon as a great man and worrier, this is an idea gained

3 Absolute Truth about absolute truths http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htWja0Hkl4M (accessed

18/6/2010)
4 Napoleon Bonaparte
from Napoleon’s memoirs where he exaggerates his image, role and significance. Nevertheless, as I
learned in the process of writing my historical investigation, which is my Internal Assessment in the
subject History higher level, history is based on different paradigms and perspectives; it also consists of
the recollection of events which makes it biased and therefore difficult for us to come to an ultimate truth
for an event - “The weaknesses of memoir and retrospective are obvious: human memories are selective,
subjective and unreliable; it is easy to exaggerate one’s own role in the retelling of a story; one’s present
agenda may color one’s recollections of an event long past”5.

The Coherence Theory is based on rationality as it follows a rational and logic argument. We usually
understand the term logic as not admittincy duplicity and, hence, clear to understanding. Logic is what
makes sense in terms of some justification. Reason is a faculty of intellect, so a rational explanation is
well-reasoned to submit an idea or truth. Language is the instrument used to treat the thoughts objectively.
Without language, these ideas of individual and subjective condition could not become public and
objective. What does logic have to do with truth: the correspondence between propositions and facts. The
discipline that determines the basis of these relationships is logic as it is an instrument that establishes
procedures for studying the principles used in distinguishing correct reasoning; consequently the purpose
of all logic is to demonstratively express reality within truth. It is therefore vital in the study of the
Natural Science.

According to Albert Einstein “Truth is what stands the test of time.” I believe albert Einstein was wrong
and I believe that Absolute truth are, in fact, unnecessary to our understanding of the universe;
approximations are more adequate. There are no exact distinctions between what is considered false or
true sine those two ideas change significance from person to person. Each culture have their own set of
belief and therefore their own truth. Different Religions state different truths for example Muslims and
Christians and in the case of Science truth is always changing. Different Areas of knowledge present
different concepts of true and false.

Pablo Picasso said that art was a lie that brought us closer to the truth and because of that there should be
some truth in art, contrastingly Plato in his principle of Reasoning believed that there could not be any
truth in art as art is a representation of the world and that any kind of knowledge or truth gained from it
would be erroneous as it was based on a non-reality.

5 James G. Blight Cuba on the Brink: Castro, the Missile Crisis and the Soviet Collapse (New
York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1993) p,6
Bibliography

• Blight James G., J,Allyn, and David A. Welsh Cuban Missile Crisis and the Soviet Collapse (New

York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,19993)

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• "Human." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 8 Aug. 2010.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human>.

• "Perspectivism and Truth in Nietzsche’s Philosophy." St. Olaf College—A Private Liberal Arts

College of the Lutheran Church in Minnesota. Web. 15 June 2010.

<http://www.stolaf.edu/depts/philosophy/reed/2001/perspectivism.html>.

• "What Is Absolute Truth?" WiseGEEK: Clear Answers for Common Questions. Web. 13 June

2010. <http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-absolute-truth.htm>.

• "YouTube - The Absolute Truth about Absolute Truths." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 18 June

2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htWja0Hkl4M>.