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JA6. Learning Journal 6

Statement

Hopefully, this week has increased your worldview about the importance of actually thinking about truth and knowledge. It is certainly something we take for granted that we understand, but don’t.

  • For this week’s journal, please share what the most interesting part (lesson/discussion) this week was to you.
  • How did that reading, or experience of thinking about it, change your perception of knowledge and truth around you?
  • Please explain how you thought before, and how the new viewpoint changed that old thinking into something new.

Answer

The discussion about the truth was interesting and inspiring; it made me understand various definitions and types of truth and knowledge. The most interesting part was the dual categorization of truth proposed by Thomas Hobbes (Krook, 1956).

Before reading this chapter, I was adopting the scientific method as the only source of truth; I have adopted this without extensive knowledge about truth itself. According to the scientific method, truth is only what can be seen and felt, thus, it can be put to a test and proven, and thus known. This means that things like God’s existence, life after death, and other things related to religion are not true as they can NOT be proven or tested.

After reading this chapter, I learned that there are different types of truth and knowledge. For example, intuitive knowledge is something philosophers consider, thus they give some weight to intuition or gut feeling as a source of truth, although this knowledge is only true for its holder. Hobbes’s dual categorization of truth changed my view about religious truth, as it explains the things that religion teaches but can not be seen as another type of truth (supernatural truth); So now, I can see that I hold two types of truth based on their sources, scientific truth and religious truth; although the latter can not be proven, thus it is true only for me (or for those who believe in it).

Another interesting part was the importance of language in the construction of truth. Hobbes sees that language constructs propositions, and the truth is a property of these propositions (Krook, 1965). Thus, anything that can not be expressed by language can not be known or true. I now understand that language is the main source of knowledge and truth we have learned to use since years of school. For example, I learned in physics that there is no nature to colors, but changing the wavelength of the same light changes its color; I did not verify this fact by myself, but I take it as true as it was delivered to me using language in books or from the teacher’s mouth.

The reading material also taught me to be practical about truth, that is, truth is never absolute, and no one holds all the knowledge about what is true and what is not. Therefore, it is accepted to rely on one kind of truth at one position and rely on a completely different truth at another position. For example, I accept intuitive knowledge when we are in an open discussion about our life experiences; I can also accept any religion as true as long as it is not forced on me, but both of these truths are only accepted by their holders. On the other hand, scientific truth that is based on scientific method should be accepted by everyone as it is proven and tested.

To conclude, I now believe that there are not just one or two types of truth, but there are multiple, and each of them is true for its holders, but some are true for everyone. I also believe that modern definitions of truth have been influenced by various views of different philosophers and that everyone has their own kind of truth based on their beliefs and experiences.

Word Count: 565.

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