Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 10:55:34 -0400 (EDT) From: malgosia askanas <ma-AT-panix.com> Subject: Re: Against vulgar theories of truth Lubna wrote: > The only truths we can claim to exist are scientific ones, such as "the > world is round", and not flat. I'm not an empericist, nor a die-hard > rationalist, however, I think truths exist between these categories, such > that if you want something to be true for you, you can believe it as > such, but then ... it is only a belief and not a truth. The world is full > of belief systems, so to agonise over whether any of them are truer than > the next, is futile, because that is not an issue. Ideological beliefs > are not truths, merely claims to truth. But is the statement "the only truths we can claim to exist are scientific ones" not also an ideological belief? And what is a "scientific truth"? The system of things accepted by scientists as "scientific truths" changes throughout the history of science. And what is it that convinces _you_ that the world is round? Is it not because you've been taught that it is a "scientific truth" by sources that you accept as "authoritative"? I am not making these remarks in order to question the validity of empirical or scientific truths. Rather, I disagree with the claim about the easy distinguishablitlity of truths we can in some obvious way "claim to exist" and others that it is supposedly futile to "agonize about". I would say that the only kind of truth probably not subject to much agonizing about is whether or not one's cat sleeps for 14 hours. Everything else is profoundly subject to agony, and I would perhaps argue that these agonies are the cornerstone of all culture, society and meaningful activity. -m
Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005