Defining Truth

Truth has been put on trial and judged by people who are devoted to lies.

Truth corresponds to reality or “what is.”

Truth is real.

Truth is also correspondent in nature.

Truth desires to appear; truth longs to become conscious; truth strives to know itself. There is truth in the stone, for the stone is here; and no power in the world, no god, no man, no demon, can destroy its existence.

There is truth in the plant and its life can expand; the plant grows and blossoms and bears fruit. Its beauty is marvelous.

There is truth in the animal; it moves about and perceives its surroundings; it distinguishes and learns to choose.

In a postmodern world that denies that truth can be known, the question is more important than ever to answer.

Was it a melancholy desire to know what no one else could tell him, a cynical insult, or perhaps an irritated, indifferent reply to Jesus’ words?

In defining truth, it is first helpful to note what truth is not:

Truth is not simply whatever works. 

This is the philosophy of pragmatism. In reality, lies can appear to “work,” but they are still lies and not the truth.  Truth is not simply what is coherent or understandable. A group of people can get together and form a conspiracy based on a set of falsehoods where they all agree to tell the same false story, but it does not make their presentation true.

Truth is not what makes people feel good. 

Unfortunately, bad news can be true.

Truth is not what the majority says is true. 

Fifty-one percent of a group can reach a wrong conclusion.

Truth is not what is comprehensive. 

A lengthy, detailed presentation can still result in a false conclusion.

Truth is not defined by what is intended. 

Good intentions can still be wrong.

Truth is not how we know.

Truth is what we know.

Truth is not simply what is believed. 

A lie believed is still a lie.

Truth is not what is publicly proved. 

A truth can be privately known (the location of buried treasure).

The Greek word for “truth” is aletheia, which literally means to “un-hide” or “hiding nothing.” It conveys the thought that truth is always there, always open and available for all to see, with nothing being hidden or obscured.

The Hebrew word for “truth” is emeth, which means “firmness,” “constancy” and “duration.” Such a definition implies an everlasting substance and something that can be relied upon.

From a philosophical perspective, 

Truth is that which corresponds to reality.
Truth is also correspondent in nature.

In other words, it matches its object and is known by its referent.

For example, a teacher facing a class may say,

“Now the only exit to this room is on the right.” 

For the class that may be facing the teacher, the exit door may be on their left, but it’s absolutely true that the door, for the professor, is on the right.

Truth is that which matches its object.

It may be absolutely true that a certain person may need so many milligrams of a certain medication, but another person may need more or less of the same medication to produce the desired effect. This is not relative truth, but just an example of how truth must match its object.

Truth is simply telling it like it is.

In short, truth is simply telling it like it is; it is the way things really are, and any other viewpoint is wrong.

A foundational principle of philosophy is being able to discern between truth and error.

Man cannot live without joy; therefore when he is deprived of true spiritual joys it is necessary that he become addicted to carnal pleasures.—Thomas Aquinas 

Better to illuminate than merely to shine, to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate.—Thomas Aquinas

The truth of our faith becomes a matter of ridicule among the infidels if any Catholic, not gifted with the necessary scientific learning, presents as dogma what scientific scrutiny shows to be false.—Thomas Aquinas 

Distinctions drawn by the mind are not necessarily equivalent to distinctions in reality.–Thomas Aquinas 

"It is the task of the philosopher to make distinctions." —Thomas Aquinas 

Aquinas’ challenging words are not very popular today.  Making distinctions seems to be out of fashion in a postmodern era of relativism.  This is especially observable in matters of faith and religion where every belief system is supposed to be on equal footing where truth is concerned.

There are a number of philosophies and worldviews that challenge the concept of truth, yet, when each is critically examined it turns out to be self-defeating in nature.

The philosophy of relativism says that all truth is relative and that there is no such thing as absolute truth. But one has to ask:

Is the claim “all truth is relative” a relative truth or an absolute truth?

If it is a relative truth, then it really is meaningless; if it is an absolute truth, then absolute truth exists. 

Moreover, the relativist betrays his own position when he states that the position of the absolutist is wrong.

Why can’t those who say absolute truth exists be correct too?

Those who follow the philosophy of skepticism simply doubt all truth.

Is the skeptic skeptical of  his own truth claim? 

If so, then why pay attention to skepticism? If not, then we can be sure of at least one thing (in other words, absolute truth exists)—skepticism, which, ironically, becomes absolute truth in that case.

The agnostic says you can’t know the truth. Yet the mindset is self-defeating because it claims to know at least one truth:

You can’t know truth.

The disciples of postmodernism simply affirm no particular truth. The patron saint of postmodernism described truth like this:

A mobile army of metaphors, metonyms, and anthropomorphisms … truths are illusions … coins which have lost their pictures and now matter only as metal, no longer as coins.” Ironically, although the postmodernist holds coins in his hand that are now “mere metal,” he affirms at least one absolute truth: the truth that no truth should be affirmed. Like the other worldviews, postmodernism is self-defeating and cannot stand up under its own claim.—Frederick Nietzsche

Deception, flattering, lying, deluding, talking behind the back, putting up a false front, living in borrowed splendor, wearing a mask, hiding behind convention, playing a role for others and for oneself -- in short, a continuous fluttering around the solitary flame of vanity -- is so much the rule and the law among men that there is almost nothing which is less comprehensible than how an honest and pure drive for truth could have arisen among them. They are deeply immersed in illusions and in dream images; their senses nowhere lead to truth.—Frederick Nietzsche 

Nietzsche claimed the exemplary human being must craft his/her own identity through self-realization and do so without relying on anything transcending that life.

A popular worldview is pluralism, which says that all truth claims are equally valid.

A truth that a woman is now pregnant and another truth is that she is not pregnant.

Can two claims both be true at the same time?

Pluralism unravels at the feet of the law of non-contradiction, which says that something cannot be both “A” and “Non-A” at the same time and in the same sense.

Anyone who believes that the law of non-contradiction is not true should be beaten and burned until they admit that to be beaten and burned is not the same thing as to not be beaten and burned. —Medieval Philosopher Avicenna

Also, note that pluralism says that it is true and anything opposed to it is false, which is a claim that denies its own foundational tenet. The spirit behind pluralism is an open-armed attitude of tolerance. However, pluralism confuses the idea of everyone having equal value with every truth claim being equally valid. More simply, all people may be equal, but not all truth claims are. Pluralism fails to understand the difference between opinion and truth.

Pluralism is desirable and tolerable only in those areas that are matters of taste rather than matters of truth.—Mortimer Adler

It is impossible that the same thing can at the same time both belong and not belong to the same object and in the same respect.  In other words, it can't be so and not be so at the same time. —Aristotle

Anyone claiming to have absolute truth in matters of faith and religion is considered “narrow-minded.”

We must understand that, by nature, truth is narrow. 

Those holding to absolute truth in matters of faith and religion understand that truth, by nature, excludes its opposite. 

Is a math teacher narrow-minded for holding to the belief that 2 + 2 only equals 4? 

Is it arrogant to claim that someone is right and another person is wrong? 

Is it arrogant for a math teacher to insist on only one right answer to an arithmetic problem?

All answers other than 4 are excluded from the reality of what 2 + 2 truly equals. Yet another protest against truth is that it is offensive and divisive to claim one has the truth.

If in sincerity; is it arrogant for a locksmith to say only "one" key will fit the lock?

It doesn’t matter how much one sincerely believes a wrong key will fit a door; the key still won’t go in and the lock won’t be opened.

Truth is immune to sincerity, belief, and desire. 

Someone who picks up a bottle of poison and sincerely believes it is lemonade will still suffer the unfortunate effects of the poison.

Truth is impervious to desire. 

A person may strongly desire that their car has not run out of gas, but if the gauge says the tank is empty and the car will not run any farther, then no desire in the world will miraculously cause the car to keep going.

Some will admit that absolute truth exists, but then claim such a stance is only valid in the area of science and not in matters of faith and religion.

This is a philosophy called logical positivism, which was popularized by philosophers such as David Hume and A. J. Ayer. 

In essence, such people state that truth claims must either be tautologies or empirically verifiable. 

To the logical positivist, all talk about God is nonsense.

Those who hold to the notion that only science can claim absolute truth fail to recognize that the very philosophical claim itself cannot be tested by science. And there are those who say that absolute truth does not apply in the area of morality.

Is is moral to torture and murder an innocent child?

The Truth is absolute and universal: No.

Why is it so important to understand and embrace the concept of truth?

Giving someone the wrong amount of a medication can kill them; having an investment manager make the wrong monetary decisions can impoverish a family; boarding the wrong plane will take you where you do not wish to go; and dealing with an unfaithful marriage partner can result in the destruction of a family.

The fact is, truth matters —especially when you’re on the receiving end of a lie.

There are none so blind as those who will not see. 

 Life has consequences for being wrong; most would rather die than see the truth. [source]

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