Or: Is Truth Absolute or Relative?
Truth has qualities of both absoluteness and relativity. Truth is simply “what is.” And falsity is simply “what is not.” Is “what is” absolute? Is “what is” relative? To both questions, we must answer: Yes.
What is, depends. Is depends on time, place, manner, condition, and countless factors that are often fleeting.
Since math is a common example, let’s take x=x. The equation appears true, but in practical terms, we have to assume the x on the left side actually does mean the same as the x on the right side for the equation to be true.
In other words, math is arbitrary. We must make arbitrary choices (called axioms, like ground rules) to make math work. Without those arbitrary choices, we cannot actually prove that x=x except by experience. And we all know that experience is not sufficient to rule out all possible cases.
In all cases we need to make assumptions to determine truth values. Is that statement true? I don’t know; but we think it is. Perhaps it’s not. We can’t prove it one way or another, unless we make certain assumptions.
See, “x” and “=” and “1″ and “and” are all merely symbols. They possess no truth in themselves. They mean whatever we want them to mean. We could have a system of symbols where a rule states “the first x of any equation is always 1 and the second x of any equation is always 2.”
Under that system, x=x is false.
Let’s take an example. I am holding a small rock right now. I claim that this rock is. Let’s say that you all believe me. We then have a statement with some truth value: This rock is.
What if I say, “This rock is, but was not before, and soon will not be.”
Is that true? Well, the first part of the statement is true (assuming my claim is true), but we cannot evaluate the truth of the second part or the third part. Knowing what we know about the formation of rocks and what we assume about the existence of the universe, we would probably claim the second part is true. Does that make the whole statement true or untrue? Even if we assume parts 1 and 2, we still can’t determine truth until “soon” happens, whenever that is.
My only point from this later example is to show that truth is conditional. If soon happens, and the rock indeed no longer is, then the previous statement was true when made, but is no longer true, because the new statement would have to be, “This rock no longer is, but it was.”
This is not to say that there are no absolute truths. My first statement was that truth is both absolute and relative. The difficulty, I think, that most people have is that truth is not a thing in and of itself; rather truth is simply an evaluation of whether some other thing is or is not. There is no “The Truth.”
To put this all another way:
Truth is both absolute and relative. Or, more accurately, truth does not exist independently of things, and whereas some things are and some things are not, and whereas the determined states of are and are not can be conditional; either all truth is absolute or relative, or all truth is relative.