Life, Love, and Everything In Between

Hold on tight baby!

So i've been thinking a lot lately about philisophical things. I guess this has been spawned by a friends blog, but also by my life in general. I find that most of what's been happening in my life and in the lives of other lately is happening for a reason. But here is what i came on to write about, and knowing me i'll probably end up writing about something else. Is truth relative? This just occured to me though...what is truth? Is it that which is right? If that's so then i must define what rightness is, or being right...i guess i could say that being right was being 'good' right? (no pun intended) But the definition of 'good' is the absinse of evil, or, if you want to follow what Plato said (cus everyone things he's a pretty smart guy) he said that 'the good' is whatever the gods deem as good...but then he talked in circles and said that 'the good' could also be that which the gods find favor in... thus you get the chicken and the egg conundrum (those dang greeks). For fun, and just for ease, i'll use the dictionaries definition of Truth. I've decieded on this before actually looking it up, and i hope it works in my favor. HAHA okay, so the first definition of truth i can't use, because it uses the word truth in the definition...so i'll use the second one. Okay, so the second definition is: Conformity with fact or reality. Simple and to the point. I'll point it out right now, my agrument thus hinges on this defintion of truth, so if you want to debunk it and debate it i'll make it easy for you. So, is truth relative? Basically i'm asking is, is what's true for me, what's true for you? I've come to a few conclusions. I'll say that at the moment i'm not sure, but maybe through this thought process i'll come do a decision. At the moment it appears that truth is partialy relative. I'll coin these terms (i bet this isn't original, but if they are that would be uber cool) I think there are Hard Truths, and Soft Truths. For example: God exists or He doesn't. That is a very Hard Truth. God exists or He doesn't, whether you belive in Him or not. Your belief in Him does not change His existance. If you are a Christian your whole life, and you believe in God, and then you lose your faith (through whatever measure), God does not stop existing, only your belief in Him does. So that is an example of a Hard Truth. But there has to be subjective truth, if there wasn't subjective truth, then how could there be opinions and debates. For example: My friend Ryan is colour blind, and he does not see all the colours that i see. Part of his colour blindness is what's called Orange-Green blindness. This means that he sees orange and green as the same colour. Here is where subjectiveness comes into play. When he goes out into the field full of green grass to find the post marked with orange flaging tape, he can't find it because, like everything else, it appears green...or is that orange....or maybe it appears to be a colour that no one else that is colour sensitive can see. His idea and interpretation of green and orange is different that mine. While scientifically the wave length's of the refracted light has not changed, what he sees, and what is reality to him is different than me. Thus using the definition of truth, given to me by the all knowing dictionary, truth must be subjective. Why do i call this a Soft Truth though? I think Soft Truths are things that can change for individuals. Soft Truths are mostly subjective. Hard Truths are things that are not subjective. For instance, if i, within the confines of earth and all its physical laws, jump into the air, the force that we have named gravity will effect me, and i will fall back down to the ground. I cannot change this fact, no matter how many angles i look at it from 'gravity' affects us all. That is a truth, one that cannot be changed. But what of Soft Truths? these deal more with morality i think. Some would say that killing is bad, and generally that is accepted as reality and fact (as my definition of truth says) But, what about a culture where killing is accepted? If you are raised from birth, say in a tribal setting, where killing is accepted.Then your belief would be that killing is fine...that would be your reality? right? There is where Soft Truth lies, Soft Truth is much more malable, and bendable....lawyers love Soft Truth..jk. Ugh my head hurts.I think this is my belief on this topic for now.
Thanks Kirstyn

posted by That Canadian Guy @ 8:42 p.m.