PHILOSOPHY
“Truth is a central element of philosophy, first questioned by philosopher René Descartes in his Discourse on Method in 1637.” CLARA BARDWELL
statement to Bertrand Russell’s book The Problems of Philosophy, questioning if there is ‘any knowledge in the world which is so certain that no reasonable man could doubt it?’. This scepticism is presented through the argument of appearance against reality, when doubting that what we see – whilst reality can be defined as the truth of what really exists, appearance is simply what it looks like from an external point of view and can be a form of deception. This idea of deception and the common misconception between the two is evident in our everyday lives, for example, in Rudy Giuliani’s (Donald Trump’s personal lawyer) paradoxical and contradictory statement ‘truth isn’t truth’ we are enlightened to how easily truth can be influenced and twisted, demonstrating our human lack of awareness, illustrating just how oblivious we really are to being brainwashed and swept into easily believing fake news. This clearly indicates how, through society’s immorality and portrayal of false truths, promises and fake media, truth is constantly becoming an increasingly human invention and social construct. Therefore, as the controversial, debated philosophical theory of truth has been invented and adapted by humans over time, and without a single agreed definition of truth, its value and meaning is completely relative on both a smaller, individual scale, as well as relative to its own societal context. As a result, truth cannot be viewed in a harsh, objective and absolutist light, but rather as a social construct, invented by humans and relative to each person.
However, the question of universal, necessary truths, such as empirically verified mathematical claims such as two plus two is four, suggests that truth cannot be a relativistic claim dependant on either an individual or societal experience. Absolutists take this further through the idea that all humans have an in-built conscience and sense of reason. The belief in an innate, in-built human conscience, demonstrates how, as humans, we intrinsically know basic rights from wrongs, and have certain universal truths ingrained in our framework, such as; ‘to not kill,’ and can therefore easily determine the distinction between what is morally right or wrong before we are objectively taught so. Despite this, knowing not to kill, for example, may not be due to human conscience, but may have been consistently drummed into humans to form an ordered society and live in harmony, fulfilling our human telos to achieve eudaimonia, as Aristotle stated. Moreover, the belief in a human conscience and absolute, truths do not have to be mutually exclusive with the relativist claim that truth is a social construct. One can have a belief in a conscience, and yet through the philosophical idea of nature against nurture, human evolution, and societal development, truths and theories of knowledge will always become affected and changed to a certain extent as we do not have the power or control to oppose society. Ultimately, truth will become distorted by humans as a form of human invention.
The essential philosophical enquiry of knowledge and truth forms the opening
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