Tom
Truth
Truth - what the hell is it?
Within the Dark Aspect, we hear a lot of talk about our truths, about how we arrive to these truths, about how we question truths and how we have our own individual truths. But, it seems odd that with so much inquiry into our truths, we don't look to see what makes a truth. That's what I'm going to attempt to do.
There are three major philosophic theories of truth that I'm going to explain (there are more, and I'll outline a couple more after the thrust of this post), correspondence theory, coherency theory and pragmatic theory.
Aristotle, a philosopher who lived in Ancient Greece and was the pupil of Plato, first proposed correspondence theory, and it became the foundation of logic. In its most simple terms it says 'a = a' is only true if a does equal a. 'a = b' is not true if a does not equal b. It is a theory that says that truth is only truth if it corresponds to facts. I can only say that a banana is yellow if I can find the banana and it is in fact yellow. That is all that truth is, something that corresponds to a fact.
This brings up a number of problems. How do I know the banana is yellow? For example, if I was wearing blue glasses, the banana would look blue, how would I know if this were a fact or not? How can I be sure that my truths correspond to proper facts? Because, of course, we perceive facts, we are not directly exposed to them.
Coherency theory states that something can only be true if it fits in with a set of defined beliefs. For example, if it were true that all meat was fatal to me, it could not be true that I could eat pork without it being fatal, as this does not cohere.
But, of course, things can cohere without being necessarily true. Several entire systems of belief can exist, and each can cohere within itself very well, so who is to say which is true and which is untrue?
Finally, pragmatic theory. Pragmatics states that something is true if it can be used. So, it is true that bad air is the source of illness if, when I get rid of the bad air, the illness goes away. Quantum theory fits in with the pragmatic theory.
But of course, things can be used, yet be completely untrue. For example, bad air is not the source of illness (it is, in fact, the source of the bad air � bacteria � yet getting rid of the bad air still gets rid of the illness).
So, what is truth for the darksider? Is it something that works pragmatically? Is it something that coheres to our system of beliefs? Is it something that corresponds to facts? In myself, I find none of them entirely convincing.
Truth isn't about facts. If you want facts, look for the natural sciences; look for mathematics and geometry, because facts are truth without meaning and purpose.
Truth isn't about coherence. If something seemingly contradicts our belief system, that doesn't make it any less true. Rationality isn't something that seems required of truth.
Truth certainly isn't about pragmatics. It's not about whether it works or not � how oft the darksider sees that falsehood works better than truths! Masks, armour, these are things the darksider sees, controls, defeats and masters.
So what is truth? I'm not certain, but it's not something that follows conventions of logic. The darksider sees truth as an expression of himself. It's a part of the pattern of the self, something that he controls and something that no other can change. It is what bases his reality, and justifies his actions. Equations, 'a = a' don't enter into it, because he knows that in-between a and a, is himself. Truth is an interpretation, and coheres to his soul, corresponds to his thoughts and is pragmatic to his actions.
Tom Morgan