Relative Truth Research Articles

Reflections on Stereotyped Ways of Seeing and an Introduction to ‘Anekant’

This essay is inspired by Ways of Seeing, by John Berger, 2008. The photo essays in the book have led to this essay’s focus on preconceptions and stereotypes. Stereotypes are formed just at the moment ‘seeing’ is taking place, and the possession of prior knowledge is mainly effective in such stereotype formation, even when people are viewing the unknown, a stereotype is working to classify and categorize the unknown into the known, the unfamiliar into the familiar, thus, a deviation from the truth (assuming there is an objective truth or relative truth, which means a fuller vision) occurs. Anekant (an idea in Jainism) is introduced as a possible solution to stereotyped thinking. Instead of cancelling out other opinions, the main teaching of Anekant is to smartly collaborate with every different viewpoint to have a fuller vision and to be nearer to the objective truth.

Karakter Religius dalam Pendidikan Agama Katolik: Studi Persepsi Siswa tentang Hidup Beragama dalam Keragaman

Diversity requires an attitude of respect. However, formalism removes respect by reinforcing religion as a social identity that often causes social unrest and unrest, in discrimination or religious conflicts. In itself, religion is 'not wrong', but it is often blamed for its existence ability as an identity capable of driving social dynamics, in particular social conflicts. Because of its potential conflict, many discussions associate religious formalism with factors of religious emotion or sensitivity, the purpose of the organization in the name of religion, or its role in the conflict, as well as character education for the sake of the nation. Unlike previous research, this study wanted to look at religion and formalism in the perception of religious life and its influence on religious education. Given the focus on perceptions and excavations of religious life, a mixed methodology approach is a design choice in this study. The study conducted a survey of respondents' perceptions and views on four approaches to religious life. The data was collected, managed with the help of the application, as well as analyzed together with interview data against a sample of respondents. The results of the analysis are narrated discriptively in 4 topics: the view of life of faith in four approaches, exploring the richness of faith as a unique religion, the potential relativism of truth, the meaning of critical power. All of these topics have an impact on Catholic education and are an evaluation of educational political policies in managing religion in developing religious character.

Existential sense of trust

Investigating the lack of trust in the contemporary society, researchers tend to use various definitions of trust in their social and cultural studies. Hence difficult is to compare the results of such surveys and to understand the essence of the studied phenomenon clearly. In this regard, the search for the fundamental sense of trust seems to be an urgent task. However, philosophical literature allows to conclude that the category was used as something obvious throughout the history of thought. Philosophers appeared to focus on analyzing phenomena either opposite (lie and deceit), or related but not identical (faith, fidelity, certainty, etc.). Thus, this study is reasonable at the ontological level, using hermeneutic and existential analysis, as a result of which, on one hand, it is possible to show the relation between trust and etymologically related truth, and, on the other hand, to understand its nature and to formulate a definition that reflects it’s basic sense. Trust is designated as a “switch” into the mode of openness to the light of truth, which does not change either words or state of affairs, but allows to check our own constructs for falsity and unproductiveness. Therefore, trust is offered to be studied not as a characteristic of the relationship to others: the basic background of any relationship is found to be the opening of human being to the “level” of truth as the full scale of reality. In this light, the article demonstrates the existential aspects of trust giving examples of life situations and investigates fears that lead to mistrust. Some recommendations are also formulated for overcoming these fears and for building the most reliable, non-conflict, trustworthy relationships.

Karl Mannheim’s Sociology of Knowledge versus the Problem of Relativism and the Objectivity of Cognition

Below I ask whether the theoretical assumptions of the sociology of knowledge imply a subjectivistic and relativistic approach to cognition theory—a matter that has already been discussed in Polish subject literature (among others by Adam Schaff). Does the “social conditioning of cognition” conception propounded by the sociology of knowledge deny the existence of objective truth and adequate knowledge? Karl Mannheim himself called the sociology of knowledge an anti-relativist position. The critics of his anti-relativist argumentation say it is full of ambiguities and contradictions. I will attempt to take a closer look at this problem, and, at the same time, at the relation between Mannheim’s sociology of knowledge project and such measures of the adequacy of knowledge as the coherence and general consensus criterion. The main question I will try to answer is whether the Mannheimian sociology of knowledge project is a form of epistemological relativism (in the specific meaning of the term I use here), and if not, in what sense and to what degree it can be considered a position convergent with the relative truth conception.

Path of modern natural sciences: from discovery of realities to study of their attributes

We analyze the development of the natural sciences according to the scheme: “… reality – attributes – reality – attributes”. Any material reality is interpreted as a carrier of attributes manifested in a certain range of its experimental study and at a certain theoretical level of data understanding. More sophisticated experiments and refined theories lead to a more detailed and correct vision of realities and their attributes. The latter initiates new experiments and creation of new theories. These cognitive processes lead to the discovery of new material realities with their additional or refined attributes compared to those previously known. The objectivity and relative truth of scientific statements about the realities under study and their attributes are based on a qualitative or quantitative correspondence between theoretically calculated values of attributes and their experimentally measured values. We emphasize that the isolation and adequate historical and philosophical analysis of those cycles requires professional knowledge of the analyzed complex scientific material and cannot be implemented within the framework of oversimplified ideas about science and the role, which theories play in it. Examples of such ideas are the understanding of theories solely in terms of their refutation and confirmation or even the replacement of theories with fuzzy sociological concepts such as a paradigm and sociocultural determination of the scientific results. Those views often become the source of idealistic, irrational, and postmodernist interpretations of science and its history.

Człowiek a prawda. Paremiczne ukształtowanie odniesień

The description of the category of truth in the light of linguistic material is characterized by its reference to man. The analysis of the Polish paremies against the background of other Slavic languages reveals a two-way relationship: truth in relation to man and man in relation to truth. It allows for the reconstruction of: in connection with man; being in harmony with the truth and being inconsistent with the truth in the dimension of correlating a person with the truth.

The Understanding of Religious Moderation and Attitudes Students of Religious Sociology for Social Intolerance Iain Parepare

Issue religious intolerance is one of the challenges in the life of Indonesian society today which is based on diversity both in terms of religion, race, culture, language. Of course there are differences in perspectives. Moreover, as a student who is equipped with knowledge, of course, he has critical power to convey a perception or view to others. Students are expected to be a strategic tool to internalize the values ​​of religious moderation in building tolerance. This study discusses the understanding of religious moderation and students' attitudes towards intolerance. This study uses descriptive qualitative research, namely research that describes the results of interviews in the field. Researchers took data with the method of observation, interviews, and documentation. The theory used is the theory of religious pluralism in which the understanding being taught that all religions have relative truth. Meanwhile, multiculturalism theory provides an understanding of cultural, ethnic and religious diversity. The results of this study indicate that students of the sociology of religion have understood religious moderation within the scope of the campus and within the community. They generally reject all forms of social intolerance that harm individuals or groups in the name of religion. This research can serve as a comparison to the phenomena and issues of intolerance in Islamic religious universities today.

Epistemologia pragmatyczna Adama Groblera

In his latest book, Adam Grobler gives an ingenious account of the main issues of contemporary epistemology, and puts forward an original sandwich theory of knowledge. The paper brings to light pragmatic threads of Grobler’s views, including his approach to scepticism, to the justification of induction, and to the notion of truth. It is suggested that the idea of relative truth, currently rigorously elaborated by John MacFarlane, would be more useful for his purposes than the notion of truth as superassertibility proposed by Crispin Wright.

Prawo do prawdy w postępowaniu administracyjnym i podatkowym w kontekście wznowienia postępowania na podstawie nowych dowodów

The law is of great importance as long as it serves a person, and protects the spirit and values such as justice and a sense of security. In connection with the above, the fundamental relationship between law and truth becomes. Therefore, the truth, as an essential element of the spirit of the law, acquires a special meaning in administrative procedures, where in a situation of subordinating the administered entity to the administrative entity, the individual often becomes the weaker link. Meanwhile, the analysis of individual cases clearly shows the contrast that may arise in the argumentation by administrative authorities and courts of the legitimacy and regularity of their decisions. Unfortunately, the phenomenon of the authorities and courts interpreting the same norms on the basis of specific proceedings by using mutually exclusive arguments to justify the issued decisions is a common phenomenon. This is a dangerous situation for the stability of the law. The principle of objective truth is superseded by relative truth, which depends on the interest that plays a key role in a given matter.

Caravaggio’s Rumore: Fact, Fiction and Authority in Giovanni Baglione’s Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects

Abstract Since its publication in 1642, Giovanni Baglione’s Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects from the Pontificate of Gregory XIII of 1572 until the times of Pope Urban VIII in 1642, has been classified as either largely factual or obviously biased, a reflection of the culture of slander in early modern Rome. Definitions of what constituted textual ‘truth’ have changed dramatically since Baglione wrote his Lives, though this has not adequately informed debate. Also overlooked is the degree to which Baglione staked his entire rhetorical agenda around notions of truth and untruth, rumour and opinion, which emerge as central themes throughout both the framing elements and the individual artists’ lives. The present article adopts a new methodological approach to these questions, reassessing Baglione’s central themes of rumour, fama and truth in relation to questions of textuality and intertextuality, fiction and disinformation, rhetoric and agency, and drawing upon recent literary and historical studies of rumour, fame and news when doing so. At the same time, this study investigates conceptions of fame and rumour in relation to contemporary practices of art criticism in oral, manuscript and print cultures and in light of the rivalry between Caravaggio and Baglione.

Dislocated Positions of the Confessing Subject: From Historical Self to Revelation

This paper analyses the relationship between lack and possibilities of bearing witness in a post-historical context. We wanted to see how discussions about indeterminacy and testimony change the way in which we understand possibilities of truth in relation to the confessing subject. The limit of the language of testimony and memory generate experiences of incompleteness and inadequacy which make us negotiate the position of the confessing subject between an impossible historical truth and the non-discursive truth of revelation. We argued that the resistance to representation which drives the language of testimony reflects the improper position of the witness between historicity and existence. There is always an already lost historical event that we have to testify for and that foreshadows possibilities of significance. The witness can only generate discourse from inside a dislocated position which also marks the understanding of revelation.

Monitoring of cherry flowering phenology with Google Trends.

Google Trends (GT) is an online tool designed for searching for changes over time. We assessed its use for evaluating changes in the timing of cherry flowering phenology, which is of intense interest to Japanese people. We examined the relationship between time-series of relative search volume (RSV: relative change in search requests over time obtained from the GT access engine) and cherry flowering information published on websites (as ground truth) in relation to three famous ancient cherry trees. The time-series of RSV showed an annual bell-shaped seasonal variability, and the dates of the maximum RSV tended to correspond to the dates of full bloom. Our results suggest that GT allows monitoring of multiple famous cherry flowering sites where we cannot obtain long-term flowering data to evaluate the spatiotemporal variability of cherry flowering phenology.

A Reflection on Joseph Smith's Restorationist Vision of Truth

A Reflection on Joseph Smith's Restorationist Vision of Truth

Bakhtin's Dialogism: A Study of R.J. Palacio's Wonder

Mikhail Bakhtin is one of the most important theorists of dialogical discourse in the twentieth century. His most influential theoretical notions related to modern novel are Dialogism, Polyphony and Heteroglossia. Within the Bakhtinian theoretical context the study argues that Palacio's Wonder discusses the issue of disability through different perspectives, namely the deformed face, August, and other characters. The novel is a call and response between August whose deformed face places him in the position of inferior Otherness and other characters whose normality identifies them as the superior Self. This is tackled through the technique of multiple narrative voices. The study aims at answering the following questions: Does Palacio raise the issue of diversity in her Wonder because she is inspired by her personal experience or she is completely detached and thus deals with the issue of disability as a relative truth that is in need for discussion through dialogical perspectives. The study relies theoretically on Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of dialogisms. Also, it tackles the theory of disability and the issue of giving voice to the disabled since they form an important group in society. The research’s main goal is to give voice to the silenced people, namely disabled and deformed individuals. This goal motivates feelings of sympathy, empathy, and thus solidarity. In fact, Palacio's Wonder was chosen because it talks about a disabled boy in a clever way giving him a chance to be a productive individual in society. Since disabled people form a wide social group, therefor there must be studies which handle their problems and to encourage them to be better persons in spite of their deformity. The main significance of the research is to show the experimental technique of modern and postmodern novel that is dialogisms. The present study is divided into two sections and a conclusion. Section one places the novel in its theoretical, literary, and historical backgrounds. Section two discusses August's issue of deformed face through multiple points of view in the novel, namely August, Via, and Summer. The last part is the conclusion which includes the findings of the study.

Can truth relativism account for the indeterminacy of future contingents?

John MacFarlane has recently argued that his brand of truth relativism provides the best solution to the puzzle of future contingents: assertions about the future that express propositions that are metaphysically neither necessary nor impossible. In this paper, we show that even if we grant all of the metaphysical, semantic and pragmatic assumptions in terms of which MacFarlane sets and aims to solve the puzzle, his truth relativism is not apt to solve the problem of future contingents. We argue that the theory fails to vindicate the intuition that future contingent propositions are neither true nor false, leaving the theory open to a charge of Reductio. We show that these problems cannot be answered while preserving the core tenets of truth relativism.

The Relation of Metaphysics to the Secondary Object of Revelation, and the Analogy of Being as the Metaphysical Framework for Sacra Doctrina

The Relation of Metaphysics to the Secondary Object of Revelation, and the Analogy of Being as the Metaphysical Framework for Sacra Doctrina Steven A. Long In this essay I will try to pursue several objects that are essentially related, but rarely treated together systematically. First, I will consider the secondary object of revelation—that which is required for the intelligibility of revelation—as necessarily including not only historical and logical, but metaphysical truth. Some of these truths are medicinally revealed in Scripture although they are natural truths, for as Thomas writes in Summa theologiae I, q. 2, a. 2, ad 1: “The existence of God and other like truths about God, which can be known by natural reason, are not articles of faith, but are preambles to the articles; for faith presupposes natural knowledge, even as grace presupposes nature and perfection the perfectible.” I will start by referring to former Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith prefect then-Cardinal Ratzinger’s Doctrinal Commentary on the Concluding Formula of the Professio fidei,1 a commentary on the profession of faith issued by the CDF on June 29, 1998. I will also point out the Church’s consecration of certain natural metaphysical principles in her teaching, principles that are not merely contingent concepts or placeholders but whose own density of natural intelligibility is vital for the intelligibility of the doctrine of the faith. I also here address St. Thomas’s teaching [End Page 485] regarding the necessarily essential role of metaphysics within sacra doctrina or theology. Secondly, I will offer remarks regarding St. Thomas’s development in his work of the metaphysical framework for sacra doctrina in his teaching of the analogy of being as the foundation for the analogy of creature to God—an account never renounced by him but expressed later in different language the reasons for which he indicates. Failure to observe the reasons he provides for the shift in his language has actually led several authors in the twentieth century2 to hold that Thomas radically altered his account of analogy, or else to hold that he does not have such an account. But to the contrary, I will argue that he holds one formal account that universally structures his theology. Thirdly, I will address Thomas’s account of the imago dei in the human creature, illustrating the essential importance of the analogy of being within Catholic theology for understanding this teaching. Fourthly and finally, I will conclude with observations regarding the challenging analysis of a contemporary theologian of great intelligence and probity—my distinguished, insightful, and learned colleague Father Guy Mansini, O.S.B.—who has argued that valid reasoning for the existence of God is something of nature that seemingly owing to the effects of original sin is only possible for man following upon revelation and pari passu with infused theological faith and sanctifying grace.3 Without providing the [End Page 486] full consideration and response this challenging consideration merits, I will argue that this judgment seems deeply problematic for the intelligibility of revelation and the Church’s discourse with the world; that it seems unduly to constrict the dignity of the imago dei in man—the principle which is the created foundation for all later perfections in grace and glory; and that the metaphysical intelligibility of being itself may be seen as a sign of the transcendence of the image of God in man. All these points highlight the crucial role of metaphysical truth in relation to revelation, doctrine, and theology. The Secondary Object of Revelation In the CDF’s Doctrinal Commentary on the Concluding Formula of the Professio fidei, then-Cardinal Ratzinger observed the distinction in Church teaching between that which is formally revealed, and that which is required for the intelligibility of the reception and promulgation of revelation.4 Regarding that which is formally revealed the document begins by quoting the profession of faith that it is commenting upon: The first paragraph states: “With firm faith, I also believe everything contained in the Word of God, whether written or handed down in Tradition, which the Church, either by a solemn judgment or by the ordinary and universal Magisterium, sets forth to...

The Problem of Ontological Independence in Mahāyāna Bud-dhist Philosophy

The concept of self-existence or ontological independence (svabhāva) is one of the fundamental concepts in Buddhist philosophy. Its sense is similar to the concept of substance in early modern Western philosophy. In Hīnayāna schools, dharmas (elementary psycho-physiological states) are considered to be self-existent, and wisdom is the comprehension of any existence as the flow of momentary (kṣāṇika) dharmas. The teaching of Madhyamaka, the first Mahāyāna school founded by Nāgārjuna (2nd3rd centuries A.D.), is based on the postulate of emptiness (śūnyatā) of all dharmas, which means that a dharma has no referent on the level of the absolute truth. According to Madhyamaka, the interpretation of enlightenment as the knowledge of the true reality proceeds from the assumption of reality of the difference between the subject and the object. But this assumption itself has a meaning only on the level of relative truth and is empty on the level of the absolute truth. The method used by Nāgārjuna and his commentator Candrakīrti (7th c.) for the demonstration of emptiness of all concepts and conceptual constructions is their reduction to absurdity and proof of their essential contradictoriness. The concept of ontological independence is the same: if everything is bound by the law of dependent origination, then everything exists only by something other and cannot be self-existent. But if there is nothing self-existent, then the opposite conceptother-dependent (niḥsvabhāva) also loses its sense, for, according to the Buddhist doctrine, the postulation of an A in the same time means the postulation of a not-A. Yogācāra, the other Mahāyāna school, formulated the conception of three natures (trisvabhāva): constructed, dependent and absolute. But the really self-existent among them is only the last one, identical with the true reality (tathatā). The store-consciousness, or the fundamental consciousness and the basis of all other forms and levels of individual consciousness, is full of real and potential afflictions and intellectual and behavioral dispositions. They all must be removed from the store consciousness, and only this will be the final liberation. In the moment of enlightenment, the difference between the true reality and the store consciousness disappears, for this difference, like any other, is a conceptual construction generated by unenlightened consciousness and therefore ontologically dependent.

К вопросу об истине в научном и обыденном познании

The phenomenon of truth is an eternal philosophical problem. Aristotle also claimed in Metaphysics that “philosophy is called the knowledge of truth”, and Plato considered it the object of the desires of genuine philosophers. For episte­mology, truth is the foundation of human existence in all its manifestations, in­cluding everyday life. Truth is the goal and the highest value for philosophy and science. There are different concepts of truth. Correspondent and coherent theo­ries of truth are more widespread than others, the problem of truth in everyday cognition has not been fully developed, the relevance of which is related to the search for “reliable ways to orient a person in the world of pseudo-realities and flows of disinformation” (V.A. Lectorsky), with the search for the founda­tions of everyday life, order in the chaos of information and events, as well as with the search for the meaning of life. The very recognition of the truth and the desire to know it affect the character, interests, position of people, form the inner world of a person. The most fundamental and little-explored character­istics of the truth of everyday cognition are revealed on the basis of comparison of understanding truth in scientific and everyday cognition. The prerequisites of the classical (correspondent) and coherent concepts of truth containing the im­plicit idea of their synthesis are clarified. The features of understanding absolute and relative truth in everyday cognition and the criteria for the reliability of ev­eryday cognition are explicated. It is concluded that the truth of everyday cogni­tion is an empirically proven knowledge of the real state of affairs in the human life world, based on the available experience, the experience of communication, as well as the socio-cultural translation of the experience of generations.

Komparativni prikaz sofističke i socijalnokonstrukcionističke teorije

Social constructionism is a postmodern view the essence of which includes an idea of truth conditioned by society and history and of truth constructed within a wide spectrum of social interactions. The consequences of this view are that no knowledge deserves a privileged ontological status and that we can only speak about different versions of truth. The aim of the paper is a critical reconsideration of the originality of these ideas. The starting point is the hypothesis that there is a significant degree of theoretical congruence between sophism and social constructionism, implying that social constructionism could be observed to a great extent as a revitalization of old sophist ideas interpreted in a formally new manner. The methodology is comparative and interpretative text analysis, while the units of analysis are reflexivity, agnosticism, anti-essentialism, relativism, and social construction of truth. The structure of the paper comprises two entireties-the first entirety defines the concepts of sophism and social constructionism, while the second one presents the key ideational overlaps between these two movements. The conclusion is that there is a high degree of congruence, but also a considerable disparity, between sophism and social constructionism. The congruence is present in the reflexive relation towards one's own theoretical and methodological limitations, radical distrust in the epistemic capacities of the knower and relativistic conception of truth, while with regard to socially constructed truth, the congruence is absent. By this, the hypothesis set is largely confirmed, the epithet of an authentic sociological theory is attributed to social constructionism and the significance of a philosophical orientation with many elements of modernity is attached to sophism.

What Broke Science?

Although conflated in the public mind, science and technology are separate though overlapping enterprises. While technological progress is advancing rapidly, the more philosophically oriented scientific fields are experiencing an epistemological crisis. In the following text, we examine the origins of this epistemological crisis. Although the crisis is multifactorial in origin, with the factors interacting in a nonlinear fashion, several distinct contributors can be identified. These include a decline in confidence in Western culture and a concomitant rise in exaggerated self-criticism, diminution of cause-and-effect relationships, the rise of relative truth, and a transition from an agnostic to an atheistic stance among scientists.