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What is truth?

Similar questions were asked before I came on this forum but the subject wasn’t really covered from what I saw, so I’ll try again. The Bible says that “you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Like never before we are seeing a society of “alternative facts” and “alternative truths.” As I came from a religion that called itself “The Truth”, I would like to know: what do you folks consider a “truth,” how do you define “truth,” and how do you arrive at the conclusion that it is the “truth?”

gearl 8 Oct 31
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I had to do some digging on this one. A very 'deep' question. What I've found that perhaps best describes my view is truth = unconcealment. As far as news reports go (fake news, propaganda, etc), I look at sources, ones I mostly trust. And the 'truth' is never fully known, you can only get close. The 'truth' is an aspiration.

I like your answer and I agree that truth can be somewhat of a probability. I just resent the idea people are making that truth is subjective. I don’t think the word means somebody’s idea but rather it is something based on evidence and scientifically provable or it’s not truth but rather it should be called belief or faith or something else. The reason I poised the question was to make that point. A person tells the truth or he lies!

@gearl Truth is vague, because it's never fully available. Belief and faith are vapor clouds. We seem to 'believe' the same way.

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I consider truth a word with ambiguous meanings when used by most people. In my personal definition, its a property of any proposition or statement made. So in our every day speech we could say this characteristic belongs to this group. (All religions believe in a God) and we consider it true if we want to or not. And that is how far most people want to take logic. But if you consider testing all logical cases of something you can reword everything and test a huge system of thoughts with logical analysis. And in this sense you find the truth for a system of beliefs based on the assumptions in that belief system. For example, For all Abrahamic religions there exists at least one God and one book saying this is true. So in reality while people purport beliefs they usually do so with a very personal motive. This its not surprising more and more groups are making their own belief systems in order to get their own personal motives fulfilled.

IN short, I would say anything considered true must be have an entity declaring it to be true. An immutable and unseen entity that will do what we want. As if I say its true , you may say its not. But having an entity that is immutable is great because its not like you can ask that entity.... In that sense the only way to get a truth that is not tied to an ontology of transcendental beings, is to experiment with logic..

argo Level 4 Nov 12, 2017
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In the world today, truth has become more subjective than ever. Open to interpretation and the whims and fancies of the individual. Has it then lost it's meaning ? In many cases, yes.

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"Then, what is truth? Is truth Unchanging Law? We both have truth. Are mine the same as yours?" - Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice

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To me truth is any fact that can be verified by independent observation and or measurement. Truth is never just hearsay, it requires empirical data and first hand witnesses.

That is what I believe it has always meant in the past but during the last year it appears to have taken on a new meaning.

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truth is our interpretation of our reality, it's what we perceive to be true. while facts just are, and are not subject to emotional interpretation. so truth can depend on our emotions, while facts are rock solid and are, well...facts, lol.

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the hypothesis with the most tangible and credible evidence.

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What is a truth? For most of us, it's our minds accepting and rejecting information based on things we already believe, and most of our foundations that make up our beliefs are dictated to us at a young age. Some people are open to being challenged and open to, reevaluation of long-held beliefs when new information is presented, while others will rationalize away anything that threatens warmly held beliefs. What is, truth is a good question but I would also like to understand why people believe things are true when all the facts available to us show that it is not.

It bothers me when people talk like truth is debatable. I guess it is debatable when they make claims that are untrue. My point in asking the question was that the truth is important and it should be verifiable by the scientific method but in the present atmosphere of fake this and that it has devolved into a point of view or opinion.

The problem is semantics. What is true or the truth is always going to be what is believed. Even with science and loads of evidence pointing at an apparent absolute, we can never say "this" is an absolute fact. All we can say is this "conclusion" is our best answer based on the evidence. Now, I agree that I wish people would adopt the scientific method for their stance on deciding what they accept as truth, but none of us do that for everything. We assume knowledge and trust in its reliability. We read the news and if we trust the source we accept that it's true, or we learn something, and it's above our capability to research it with our current level of education we take it as truth.

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I like the definition I've heard most from Matt Dillahunty. Truth is that which comports to reality.

I like that definition also.

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A myth. One as great as religion.
There is subjective reality, where something is more likely to be "real" than something else, and claims that are demonstrably false. But what is true, or unerring, is a thing born of perspective.

I agree that truth must be expressed as a degree of probability but I still like the word as an antonym of false or untrue because the believers take so much stock in it. I love to say to them that believing in something doesn’t make it true. That no matter how many people believe in something doesn’t make it true. I don’t know what other word to use.

I can only state that they fall back on faith, their personal relationship with Thou, and feelings which can not be verified but quash all further rebuke. I'm afraid there is no winning this argument on a level of what's true or not. We can only point to what's illogical or unlikely to pull people away from the believer's claims.

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