What is truth? How is truth determined?

Question: What is truth!? How is truth determined!?

I'm not asking for you to share your worldview or to give an example of something that you believe is true!. Rather, I am looking for a precise definition of truth, an explanation for what constitutes a truth, and what means are used to determine truth (as opposed to belief)!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Hi, Jason!. You ask a very good question and I suspect you are aware a complete answer will require more space than we have here!.

Your question assumes the authority of reason due to the fact your question would be incoherent otherwise!. You are communicating with others and the only way you can do so is in a manner understood by others!. This requires the principles of logic!. also, your additional request for "correct grammar" and "understandable" answers is senseless unless you're committed to reason!. If not, then "red for fly when door if" or "chocolate tastes better than butterscotch" will suffice for answers!.

The standard definition of truth is appropriate here: Conformity to actuality!.

Any statement, argument or idea, in order to be considered true, must conform to what is actual!. It cannot be illusory or unsupported by evidence!.

This of course assumes there is a correspondence between our thoughts, words, statements and arguments with the external world!. It also assumes there is such a thing as an external world!.

In order to be rational, one must accept the authority of reason and a correspondence between words and fact!. Competing claims are self-refuting or incoherent!. One must affirm truth in order to deny it; one must know there is no knowledge in order to deny knowledge; one must know something about the world in order to deny it exists; one must authoritatively reason before one can deny the authority of reason; and one must exist before one can deny existence!. Hence, claims to the contrary collapse in ambiguity and incoherence!.

A test for falsity is what some of us call *unaffirmability*!. Self-defeating statements cannot be rationally affirmed!. Of course, one may *say* absurd things, but nobody committed to reason accepts the absurd!. An example is, "I cannot think!." People normally say this when they cannot concentrate on a particular subject!. However, since one must think in order to make that statement, it is self-refuting and is, therefore, not true!.

A test for truth is what some of us call *undeniability*!. A statement that cannot be rationally denied is a true statement!. An example of this is, "Circles are round!."

A second test for truth is what some of us call *evidential*!. That is, employment of the scientific method!. One may *believe* the moon is made of green cheese, but without supporting evidence, the truth value thereof is rather low!. This type of belief is refuted not because it is self-defeating!. Rather, it is refuted because there is compelling evidence to the contrary!.

Beliefs themselves, if related to wordviews and/or religion, can be tested for unaffirmability or undeniability as described above!.

Again, much, much more can be written!. If you'd like to discuss this further, I welcome your emails!.

Kind regards,
ScaliaWww@QuestionHome@Com

Truth is determined by His Absoluteness!. In our conditioned life( we are prone to commit mistakes and be cheated, we posses imperfect senses and are under illusion)is very difficult to determine what is the Absolute Truth!. The Absolute Truth is the Substance, while the relative truth, (that we experience in our conditioned life) is just the shadow and perverted reflection!. Existence of the shadow is due to the existence of the Supreme Truth!. The relative truth exists as the golden mountain exists in dream or in the mind!. There is the gold and there is the mountain!. Both things combined, one can dream of golden mountain!. The golden mountain is a non-existent truth but it appears to be truth for the time being in dream or in delusion because there is actual existence of gold as well as the mountain!. Therefore manifested existence of the relative truth is dependent on the existence of the Absolute Truth!. In this way one can determine!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Truth as thought as we teach is lies vs honesty and fact vs fiction!.It is a concept in distinguishing reality from imagination from what is to what is not!. Truth is on each of our minds ,so it is for each of us to look for truth!.

From a beginning example here we start,keeping in mine no mater how you structure a test each one reads different

Test: you are looking at a table ,on the table is a coffee cup ,coffee cup has liquid in it!. ---looking for the truth of what you are looking at using only these object as described no extra info is necessary for a simple answer!.

Truth can be measured using ones senses ,hearing touch,seeing,smell,taste ,time(situations in life that direct and form in what categories one puts experiences into) with the power of thought
truth is the combination of information eliminating what doesn't fit !.
There is right and there is wrong!.
I have error ed lies are truth ,truths of deception,that which is contrary to that which are truths of reality!.

A truth vs belief !? as to have been found truth is an answer with a belief of mine being the need of growth and education!.

This is very interesting I have more accept I do not have the time !.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Either in or out of agreement with other perspectives; Truth is defined by effectively communicating an action/s, person/s, place/s, and thing/s, and time of action/s!. Our means to define truth are our five senses along with our minds!.
And personally I like to answer these questions without the hopes of more points for I am exploring concepts I would otherwise never have ideas for!. So if you do not wish for me to have an extra 10 points, that is fine by me!. That is the truth because I said so!. :)Www@QuestionHome@Com

to explain truth i must first start with belief!. of course belief the the personal truth!. the only reason we have belief is because the actual truth (or at least the ones presented to us posing as the truth) may make us unhappy!. religious people don't like the thought of not existing after death so they lie to themselves and "believe" that there is an afterlife just as people with Munchhausen's "believe" that they are sick because they want to be!.

this being said, the truth is when all feelings and desires are pushed aside and only observation and common sense is used!. the truth is what you find when you have the strength to break free of your fantasy world and stop lying to yourself!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Are you looking for who we in fact go about labeling things True in society!? or are you looking for what really constitutes something as True (like despite everyone on earth believing the opposite)!?

Anyway !.!.!.

The classical answer is "correspondence with external reality"!.

A major issue is that there is no way to get outside ourselves and verify if what we're determined as True is "really" so!.

Nevertheless, statements are said to have a truth-value of either True or False, and that is determined by the actual nature of Reality!.

A problem for that view is statements about the future!.

"It will rain tomorrow over New York city!." must actually have a truth value one way or the other, but if it really already does, then the future is determined already, and most of us want to defend our experience of having free-will!.

I think the short answer is that socially at least, truth is determined by its usefullness using the "guess and check" method!. We accept something as true until some sort of test shows us otherwise, or until holding it to be true causes us problems!.

Socially, truth is determined by what we've chosen to accept as evidence, and for a long time our only evidence was "The priest said so", and most people still use this method with someone else in place of the priest!.

I would argue real Truth is a correspondence with reality that we're hoping to be able to hit on!.

It is fairly likely that our human consciousness is incapable of grasping the nature of existence outside of what is helpful for surviving long enough to breed!.

We're stretched our limited mental resources tremendously to gather useful facts about the world, but our understanding as someone put it is limited to "medium sized objects moving at medium speeds"!.

I imagine that hasn't answered your question completely !.!.!.!.

Epistoemology is still battling this one out !.!.!. last I checked the social theories of truth were winning !.!.!.

The last 1500 years or so have been spent working on the problem of justification for belief, and especially in the last 45 years there was some serious tire-spinning!.

Check out the Gettier problem if you're not familar, and you want to see how deep the Epistemology rabbit-hole goes!.

http://www!.iep!.utm!.edu/g/gettier!.htm

http://www!.unc!.edu/~ujanel/Gettier!.htmWww@QuestionHome@Com

Truth is that which can be shown to be the case!.
All of truth is systemic, ie!. truth is relative to the method of decision that determines it!.

There are concrete truths which are shown to be the case via scientific methods!.
And, there are abstract truths which are shown to be the case via logic and mathematics!.

There is no other truths!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Truth runs parallel with time and everything else is discarded!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Truth is tangible proof that something exists!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Truth is absolute!. Science will and has discovered it, but since science keeps changing what is regarded as truth, science cannot necessarily be relied on to determine truth!.

Rather, there is an ultimate archetype, from which all versions of truth are derived from, according to cultural and experiential lenses of perception!.

All forms are from the formless, or zero state, no vibration, absolute stillness!. All ideas are from this state, vibrate from this state, as in waves, pervading all, as it is all, and all are within it!. Truth is this state!. Truth is also expressed as forms from this state, and ideas from this state, as all are one!. Therefore, truth is one!.

The expression of truth varies according to the point of view, or lens of perception!. There is no separation, again there is, according to a lens of perception, or point of view!. Similarly, there appear to be different truths, when in fact there is one truth, and it is the source of all truths!.

To prove truth, the question must be understood fully to understand the answer!. Absolute truth requires direct perception of the same!. In this state, there is no need for questions!. It will suffice to say that absolute truth is absolutely true, and it meets all tests!.

Addendum:

I read your addendum!. Whether you understand or agree with my answer will not change my answer!. The ten points are not as important to me as the truth!. I am answering your question!. To understand the truth, one must have an open mind!.

Here is a simple example of a question and answers to that question:

Three apples were counted after they fell out of an apple tree!. A day later, only two apples were there!. How many apples remained!?

a!. one
b!. two
c!. three

Truth: two apples remained, answer b!.
Absolute truth: zero, two, and three apples remain, depending on the point of view!. The answer is both within and outside the scope of the question!. The answer is expressed and understood according to the limitations of the question and the awareness of the questioner and answerer!.

The truth is determined by counting how many apples were left after one day under the tree!.

The absolute truth takes into account all states of the apples, as time and space are one!.

Second addendum:

How interesting that you think I am bashing religion, or that I am starting a religion, or whatever!. Perhaps you should examine why you would think that!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I have experienced some different things on my journey of searching for truth outside of the bible and found it all to be futile!. It all ends in disaster and I found that the truth I thought I knew before learning the words of the bible were not even truth at all but rather illusion!. Your expectation is great and your labor is long and in the end there is nothing but hell!.!.!.!.without Christ!. That is what I believe is truth!. "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick!." Without Christ there is no hope!. It is all "chasing the wind"!. The knowledge of man is not the same as the Truth!.

Hello there Jason J!. Sincerely, MichelleWww@QuestionHome@Com