I'm going to talk about Truth for a bit. It seems that the concept has gotten a bid muddled lately, so I want to explain some things. I figure I'll start with the dictionary definition of "True":
True[troo]adjective
1.
being in accordance with the actual state or conditions; conforming to reality or fact; not false: a true story.
Philosophically speaking, there are three kinds of "Truth" with which we are concerned: Absolute Truth, Relative Truth, and Subjective Truth. Absolute Truth is truth that is always true. Relative Truths are things that are true for you, but not true for me. Subjective Truths are things that are always true, but mean different things to different people.
It sounds confusing, right?
Yeah, it confuses me too sometimes. I'll use a an analogy to try to break it down. Imagine, if you will, a garage door. Garage doors roll up and down, and well, you know what a garage door is. Open the garage door you're thinking about to halfway.
Now, what's true about our theoretical door? Well, Objectively, it's there, it's not closed, and it's open to about six feet from the ground. Those could be defined as Absolute Statements
Subjectively, things get interesting. Six feet might be enough for you to walk under, but if I try to walk out, I'm gonna smash my nose on it. So while it's objectively true that the door is open, subjectively it means different things to different people. A short man will be able to walk out, I will have to duck.
Now, continuing our analogy, what would a Relative Truth be? Well, were I to say that walking out the door requires ducking, that's true for me, but false for a short man. It's an absolute statement to say that "all men must duck because I must duck", but it's false, because not all men must duck.
The way to pick out Subjective Truth as opposed to Relativism is that Subjective Truths always refer back to an absolute, and are defined in relation to the subject. "The door is open six feet from the ground, a tall man must duck, while a short man does not."
Relativism doesn't define absolutes. It's not concerned with an absolute frame of reference, so instead of defining the precise height the door is opened, we'll just say that "it's open", and that "some folks have to duck."
You can see the effects of relativism everywhere in modern society. Instead of one man killing another always being wrong outside of a self-defense situation, just watch the news. People get killed, and suddenly it doesn't matter who attacked who, it's more important that one was poor and the other rich, or one was white and the other black.
The absolute statements, like "The law defines this act as justifiable homicide because it was self defense" get washed away, and suddenly it doesn't matter who swung first, because the relative issues, the ones that have no Absolute Truth to them are promoted as being important.
Things that are fundamentally required for the stability of society like law and order, right and wrong, and an accepted method of how things work are all being tossed aside because "muh feelings" trump "your rights." Society-wide, we are swimming in a putrid sea of Relativism, and it is going to drown us all.
1.
being in accordance with the actual state or conditions; conforming to reality or fact; not false: a true story.
The way to pick out Subjective Truth as opposed to Relativism is that Subjective Truths always refer back to an absolute, and are defined in relation to the subject. "The door is open six feet from the ground, a tall man must duck, while a short man does not."
Relativism doesn't define absolutes. It's not concerned with an absolute frame of reference, so instead of defining the precise height the door is opened, we'll just say that "it's open", and that "some folks have to duck."
You can see the effects of relativism everywhere in modern society. Instead of one man killing another always being wrong outside of a self-defense situation, just watch the news. People get killed, and suddenly it doesn't matter who attacked who, it's more important that one was poor and the other rich, or one was white and the other black.
The absolute statements, like "The law defines this act as justifiable homicide because it was self defense" get washed away, and suddenly it doesn't matter who swung first, because the relative issues, the ones that have no Absolute Truth to them are promoted as being important.
Things that are fundamentally required for the stability of society like law and order, right and wrong, and an accepted method of how things work are all being tossed aside because "muh feelings" trump "your rights." Society-wide, we are swimming in a putrid sea of Relativism, and it is going to drown us all.
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