Why+Truth+Matters

By what means do people create antimonies to truth according to the authors of this reading? The contradiction about truth is you would believe or you wouldn't believe it. For example, in history, they say there is no truth in history, but what if there really is, that the history was written by an eye-witness, or by a specific person who did know everything. There are questions in our head that is hard to answer. How would you know one thing if you don't know its background. For me, its just like don't judge, whenever I judge one thing I would tell myself,' do you know the background, do you know the real story, do you know him/her'... Just basic things. There is this contradiction that you could say yes or no to the truth.

antimony: 1. a contradiction or opposition, especially between two laws or rules 2. a contradiction between principles or conclusions that seem equally reasonable and necessary; a paradox

What points are these authors making? Do you agree?

They point out that the truth is what the government says rather than our own perspective and it had affected the way we think over years. It would be confusing if the belief that human can decide what truth really is and it would affect the reality because they got used to listening to higher authorities. But it is still not so important because what really matters is we're still on the same page, thinking and doing the same things, and social bond and peace for well being is being taken care of. Based on this truth is a political matter, rather than our own knowledge and it is good for the community to believe so we're having the same point. "The thought 'Reverend X says that's wrong' or 'Our leader says that's an enemy-idea' can be a highly effective bypass or shunting device to deflect our muscle and brain power to work or reproduction. Truth needs justification, proof, explanation and I do agree with this. If someone says something, there is always the next question, "How do you know". We don't trust people easily.

The points that these authors are making are that truth has various forms, skepticism (doubt) and relativism (changes). Different branches of truth are postmodernism, epistemic relativism,anti-realism, anti-foundationalism, neopragmatism, feminist epistemology, the strong programme in the sociology of science and knowledge, postcolonialism, and so on. Truth matters for various pragmatic, instrumental reasons. We ought to respect the truth. Truth can be seen as a major part of human heritage. Yes, we do have to respect the truth but sometimes it is questionable. There is no one truth only in one topic. Somebody could say it is the truth, but how are we going to know if weren't really there.



When using quotes, please discuss them a little more. You are totally on the right track, keep up the critical thinking!

AK