Christany McCarter
Mr. Schwartz
Philosophy
8, May 2018
Philosophy Essay: Is there Truth?
Truth… what exactly is truth? Can words or expressions define truth? Was it created by discovery or did man create it as an artist creates a painting? Many thinkers have questioned the universe in search of truth, not just answers. But is there truth out there to find or is there only different perspectives? Philosopher Thomas Aquinas and Nietzsche have varying ideas. While Aquinas believes there is one truth; however, Nietzsche believes there is no truth, only perspective. While both philosophers have good as well as bad points, one stands above the others: There is only one truth, derived from Natural Law.
According to Aquinas, God created the world
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Where Aquinas would say God is in control and loves and forgives everyone, Nietzsche would say God is dead and there is no one to forgive our sins. Even though their opinions varied, looking at the world and everything in it you can tell that morality (good/bad, right and wrong) and truth exist. If you observe people long enough, you can see a pattern. You see people hiding things they obviously know is wrong. Thomas Aquinas embraces these differences by saying “Every judgement of conscience, be it right or wrong, be it about things evil in themselves or morally indifferent, is obligatory, in such wise that he who acts against his conscience always sins.” Even with that said, the existence of right and wrong don’t disappear. No matter how much Nietzsche points make sense, I cannot bring myself to argue for someone whose words contradict each other. Nietzsche’s main argument is the fact there is no truth, but if truth does not exist, the claim "Absolute truth does not exist" is not true either. Facts can be proved, however perspectives cannot. For human law to exist we need a basis, which is natural law. Which most sane-minded people agree with. “The very idea of law originates in men's natural rights. There is no other standard, then natural rights, by which civil law can be measured. Law has always been the name of that rule or principle of justice, which protects those rights. Thus we speak of natural law.” Quoted from Lysander
The Student Guide to Liberal Learning encourages apprentices to consider the significance of what is truth? James Schall, explains the nature of the universe as an open door to seek guidance through the knowledge of the great thinkers as an attempt to better comprehend the ultimate truth of our reality as a whole, to understand how things perfectly align with each other and how to find the ultimate truth that humanity continuously seeks. Furthermore, Schall states that: “…the truth comes from reality itself, from what is. Truth is our judgment about reality.” Schall lays out the initial quest as form of “clear knowledge of truth” while he persuades to stimulate and spark the curiosity of students to seek his or her own truth of reality through a two-step process:
Throughout this honors ignition seminar, I have come to distinguish between two very useful, and powerful words: subjective truth and objective fact. Subjective truth, as I understand, is truth. The only difference separating it from universal or general truth is “subjective.” Our understanding of truth can cause arguments when trying to distinguish what is universally true. My definition of subjective truth, not necessarily perceived as true to others, is that the truth of something that happened may not be what actually happened to you, but what you felt happened to you. Objective fact, however, are based on facts that cannot be denied. They are legitimate, universal facts that everyone takes as true, but each may have a different interpretation of it. The main differences between subjective truth and objective fact is that subjective truth expresses one's own experience when understand the objective fact. Subjective truth has no correct definition, but I define it as: Subjective truth deals with subjectivity. Something th...
Friedrich Nietzsche was born on October 15, 1844 in Röcken bei Lützen, Prussian Province of Saxony, Germany. He was a German philosopher best known for challenging the beliefs of Christianity’s dogma and ethical values.
...sophy. "Will to power" is a central philosophical principle for Nietzsche. For this reason I tried to interpret the answers of the questions on this basis. As I mentioned in the essay I related the invention of God with the will to power. Also the expressed value was also very related with this will to power. Also at that point value of revenge came into the picture. But there is no doubt that slave morality constructs a basis for the connection of revenge and the will to power. Finally, while trying to find answer for the rejection of all moral values, I'm puzzled with different alternatives that I interpreted according to my studies.
Nietzsche starts by laying out the famous example of the madman screaming, “God is dead.” The madman exclaims that humanity doesn’t understand what it has done. They have killed god and they don’t seem to mind, they can’t see the consequences yet. He states that he thinks he has come too early and that this is just the beginning of the problem. This passage introduces the idea of a loss of religious fate in humanity. The madman has a negative outlook on this event, questioning what is next to come. Historically religion se...
...’s lack of a direct response to this apparent contradiction ensures that this matter will continue to be hotly debated well into the future. For this seemingly simple contradiction of positing truths when one has denied all absolute truths, Nietzsche gives a very complex and personal answer.
Truth, what is truth? This question itself has a thousand answers, no person can ever be sure of what truth is rather, truth can be justified, it can checked for reliability with strong evidences and logic. If the evidence proves to be accurate then it can be established that a certain answer is the truth. However, have we ever tried to think about what intrigues us to seek the truth? To think about a question and set foot firmly on the path of knowledge. Definitely it has! That was the very cause itself which is why this world has witnessed some of the greatest philosophers like Aristotle, Plato and Socrates etc. along with the school of thought. The ability to think and reason is one of the greatest ability humans have, it is what distinguishes us from the animals. It is what gives us free will, the ability to control our own outcomes. However, it is that ability to ‘think’ itself which has caused men to rebel with the myths and statements established about the unseen and natural forces since the beginning of time. It gave rise to questions such as: Do aliens exist? Is there a world of the unseen? Life after Death and the most popular question since the beginning of times, Does God exists? And the answer is ‘yes’. Here is how I will justify my stance.
In the plays Antigone by Sophocles and Macbeth by Shakespeare, the lead feminine protagonists Antigone and Lady Macbeth are two women with strong beliefs, ambition, and personalities. They are both female characters with underlying power, and must fight the feminine social stereotypes in order to succeed. These women live in a time where men are ultimately superior, but end up having more mentality then any of the men in their plays anyway. These characters are both willing to do anything to achieve what they want, even if it is turning against the rules of society that have been built around strong feminine stereotypes. While these two women are trying to achieve two completely different tasks for two very different reasons, their ambition and motivation is rooted from similar places due to their personalities, similar situations, strong wills, and sense of determination. One could argue that Antigone and Lady Macbeth are both strong women who have contrasting beliefs and views, often causing the ambition for their actions to be analogous.
Friedrich Nietzsche’s On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense represents a deconstruction of the modern epistemological project. Instead of seeking for truth, he suggests that the ultimate truth is that we have to live without such truth, and without a sense of longing for that truth. This revolutionary work of his is divided into two main sections. The first part deals with the question on what is truth? Here he discusses the implication of language to our acquisition of knowledge. The second part deals with the dual nature of man, i.e. the rational and the intuitive. He establishes that neither rational nor intuitive man is ever successful in their pursuit of knowledge due to our illusion of truth. Therefore, Nietzsche concludes that all we can claim to know are interpretations of truth and not truth itself.
Friedrich Nietzsche and Mahatma Gandhi, two mammoth political figures of their time, attack the current trend of society. Their individual philosophies and concepts suggest a fundamental problem: if civilization is so diseased, can we overcome this state of society and the sickness that plagues the minds of the masses in order to advance? Gandhi and Nietzsche attain to answer the same proposition of sickness within civilization, and although the topic of unrest among both may be dissimilar, they have parallel means of finding a cure to such an illness as the one that plagues society. Nietzsche’s vision of spiritual health correlates directly with Gandhi’s image of industrialism and the self-sufficiency. This correlation prevails by highlighting the apparent sickness that is ubiquitous in both of the novels.
Where Kant’s system is based on a set of principles or duties, Nietzsche’s system is based on virtue. Nietzsche is critical of Christianity in general and its evaluation of morality. In the reevaluation of values, he shows how the characteristics of morality in Christianity are more prohibitive of living virtuously than those of Ancient Greece, which include strength, confidence, sexuality, and creativity. In Christianity, those values are pity, shame, asexuality, and humility. The set of values of Ancient Greece is considered Master Morality and the values of deontology is considered to be Slave Morality. Master morality is a step in the right direction for morality but still not the
Everyone thinks they know the truth, actually is. The real question is, do we really know what the truth is. There are many ideas on what the truth is. Descartes and Nietzsche have an idea on what in the world truth is. Nietzsche argues that the whole idea of truth is just an illusion. He says it is fake and we really tight. On the other hand, Descartes proposes that the truth is there in some cases, but not in other ways. The way, the truth is there, is Math and Science. Nevertheless, by taking a closer look at their arguments about what truth actually is, I will argue that Nietzsche position is a better account for what truth actually is because it shows the reader how fixed on the truth, we really are. Also, Nietzsche thinks we never question why we think the truth is what it is. The last reason, Nietzsche is on the right track is, he favors art of science.
When one is sitting in a university lecture classroom trying to absorb the vast array of knowledge disseminating out of the PA system, there is a certain ambience that parallels a movie theater. The architecture of the classroom is designed to symbolize the lecturer as the “subject” and the students as the “objects”; meaning, the professor narrates through story-telling and the students passively sit in their seats with open minds readied to be entertained and filled with deposits of wisdom. After the monotony of one lecture following another, students delve into to their stacks of knowledge so that they can memorize, repeat and regurgitate all of the information that they now possess. This type of teacher-to-student dynamic has been intrinsic
Peter Abelard was a renowned dialectician from 1079 to 1142. He subjected theological doctrines to logical analysis. In other words, he used rational argument to discover truth. Saint Thomas Aquinas, was a believer in the power of reason, giving St. Augustine's theory an alternate approach. He taught in Paris and Italy during the years 1225 to 1274. Both of these new age thinkers changed the way Catholic followers viewed the "natural world."
... part of this human nature to be cruel. It does us good to see others suffer. It is even better when we make others suffer. Nietzsche uses hell as a demonstration of this. Nietzsche says, “…there would be more justification for placing above the gateway to the Christian Paradise and its “eternal bliss” the inscription “I too was created by eternal hate”…” (Nietzsche, 49). I had never looked at humans being this way or hell being this way, before reading Nietzsche’s book on morality. He makes an excellent point though, that I have to agree with. I have to disagree with the idea that we have free will. We are constantly told what we should do, how we should act, etc. If we do otherwise, we get punished for it. People are constantly forcing their beliefs on one another. Morality is just another belief that has been twisted and transformed over time and forced upon us.