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May 23, 2010 6:18:55 PM
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It is important in answering questions of this sort to mind the use of terms. Just as the gods have lived in the gaps of our knowledge, so ignorance thrives in the uncertainty of our language.
For something to have the quality of being true, it must be in accordance with fact or reality. The terms “fact” and "reality", however, pose the questions “what are facts?”, and “what is reality?”; "are there absolute realities or facts, or are such simply dependent on the person?"
We can resolve these questions by asking whether or not it’s possible for anyone to live in a world which is completely isolated from the world as lived by another.
If we decide that this is the case, then we can abandon the search for truth in the absolute, as any truth which is shared wouldn’t necessarily be so, but only by coincidence or contrivance.
If, however, we found that it is impossible to completely divorce our individual awareness of the world from that of others, then we admit that we have found at least one fact or reality upon which we all must necessarily agree, and we have found an “absolute”.
This fact or reality would form the basis of "absolute truth" in proportion to the accuracy and completeness of our understanding, and the expression of our language of such a fact or reality.
It is my position that there are indeed such facts and realities that we necessarily share, and that our understanding of these are grounded in the formal sciences, and by extension the natural sciences in proportion to the strength of their link to the former. To deny these truths, is to be confounded by language, and bounded by ignorance.
by ajcnicholson
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