How do we know when something is true?
Plato states that the goal of a philosopher is to seek Truth. He acknowledges that we may never get to a complete understanding of Truth, but we should always strive for it none-the-less. We see throughout history that people are curious about how the world works and sometimes devote their entire lives attempting to figure out the truth of the world. What started off as philosophy, eventually branched into many different specialized studies: biology, chemistry, physics, math, psychology, sociology, and the like. (Don’t tell your other profs that they all stem from philosophy, I don’t need them mad at me. Ha!)
Underlying our quest for truth is the foundational assumption that we can actually know somethingis true (or false). We have the ability to reason, to be rational, and most importantly, we have the ability to reflect. This ability to reflect, to ask questions (even of ourselves), is arguably the key to being human (even more so, the key to being philosophically-minded). Your dog never asks “am I being the best dog I can be? Am I living up to my full doggy potential?” Your dog lives by instincts and therefore, just knows how to be a dog. We have the ability to reflect, and with it comes a whole host of questions like, “Am I a good person? Am I living up to my potential? How do I live a good life? What is my purpose?”
Skepticism and Relativism
There are two primary “easy answers” to this question about Truth: skepticism and relativism. The Skeptical argument is that we cannot possibly know anything for certain, therefore we cannot know what’s true. The Relativist argument is much more common and says “there are no ‘absolute truths,’ what’s ‘true’ is what is true for you.” Currently, we hear this most commonly in the phrase “live your truth.” I submit that we don’t actually believe either of those positions and we certainly don’t live as if either of those are true.
Refutation of Skepticism
A simple refutation of basic skepticism can be found in baking (or cooking in general). We know that if we follow a recipe, we will create the desired baked good. This occurs each time we follow the recipe, correctly, due to the natural laws of physics and chemistry. Other examples can be found in building anything. We trust bridges to hold our weight when we cross them, because we trust engineers and architects to know how to build bridges based on the laws of physics.
To be fair, (and to make this more complicated) we don’t actually “prove” anything in science. We either disprove a hypothesis, or fail to disprove a hypothesis. So, the depth of what we know from scientific inquiry is rarely set in stone (if ever). And, to add just a bit more confusion, from what we know of quantum physics, everything seems to go out the window, but that’s working on the quantum level, not our day to day. It also doesn’t mean that there isn’t truth, or rules, to quantum physics, we just don’t know what it is yet.
Refutation of Relativism
One of the refutations of relativism is that we don’t actually want to live with every act or behavior being morally equal. It goes even further than our desires, though, and we can make a solid argument that some actions or behaviors bring real harm to people and societies. The easiest example is slavery. If relativism is true, not only is slavery permissible, but it is as morally good as any other practice. Just to drive the point home, we can insert any morally repugnant practice we choose in place of slavery: racism, the Nazis, pedophilia, and the like.
Authority
Taken even further, we come the problem with authority. Most of our information comes from someone telling us. That is literally the majority of the education system. So, we really take things on faith, but how do we know what we’re told is true?
This isn’t meant to cause an existential crisis, so don’t take it too far. However, the question is an important one. In what ways do we know something is true?
Assignment:
For this assignment I want 500 words on how we know when something is true. This isn’t the same as the essay, I don’t need you to give multiple arguments and counter points in a formal way, however, I want you to really think about the problem and provide a thorough analysis of how we can come to the conclusion that something is true.
You do not have to use outside sources, but if you do, make sure to cite them correctly.
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