There is one thing that defines my entire being. Almost every aspect of my personallity, belief system, and way I have run my life can be traced to one foundational belief that I hold. Without this one principle my entire life would be without meaning. This thing that is so important to me is my belief that there is such a thing as objective truth.
Most, if not all, of my audience will probably agree that there is such a thing as truth that is truth whether or not it is believed.
My belief in an actual truth plus some teenaged angst drove me to be the analytical person that I am. I always kind of viewed life as if every aspect could be analyzed, but not always to the extreme that I do now.
This has even shaped my choice in careers, as in technical support there is typically an objective cause to any issue. The root cause is truly the cause of the problem whether I know what it is or not. The entire purpose in my job is to uncover that objective truth.
It often surprises me when I hear someone whom I consider intelligent who does not believe in an objective truth. Without truth there is no such thing as logic (at least deductive logic) because deductive logic is reliant on given statements. Logic is foundational to intellect.
I could be wrong, but I generally assume that people who do not believe in an objective truth do so only due to the fact that they do not want to point out that someone else is wrong. I certainly do understand that motivation (which is the reason I even thought of it), but how can someone honestly use a fear of pointing out that someone else is wrong to determine what he or she believes about truth? A person doesn't even have to believe that he or she has a lock on the truth to admit that truth exists. To follow this line of thinking really seems either lazy or cowardly.
I can't assume I know what anyone else's motivations are, though. I don't have a lock on objective truth.
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In addition to those that don't wish to point out another's error, I belive that many claiming that there is no objective truth do so because they don't like the implications i.e. they may be wrong.
Today's Verification Word:
Itvzmai - /it-vas-me'/v. Eastern Euopean confession.
In addition to everyone else, it is also a fashionable belief system to allow others to see things any way they want, unless if it is objective truth, then thats not so cool. When this happens, rarely does the cool person see the irony in their beliefs.
It seems that it's not politically correct to believe in objective truth. People who do believe in it are often viewed as closed minded, when in reality it's the opposite.
I think the cliche "If you don't stand for something then you will fall for anything" may apply here.
What led you to believe that there is an objective truth?
Taz, it's actually interesting that you brought this up. Obviously, growing up and being taught that there is a right and wrong started me on that path. The reason I never left the path was that every decision in life tends to evidence that truth exists.
For example, it is a truth that if I only have $20 and something costs $25, that I cannot purchase that item. Of course, credit is another variable, so maybe the advent of the credit card can be tied to the popularity of the believe that there is no objective truth.
When I say that it surprises me when intelligent people don't believe in objective truth, I simply mean that to remove fact is to remove logic. Why implement logic if the whole thing is random anyway?
Interesting topic! My mom just out of the blue told me last night that she would like to teach a Sunday School class on the absolute truths of the Bible. I know that this is more for G's blog then yours...but weird that I have more then one person bringing up the subject out of the blue!?
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