The Arts in NYC

Fixation of Belief

Well it seems like the topic of absolute truth has been very controversial and I didn’t get to give my "2 cents" regarding the matter in class, so I might as well do it over here.

Let's start with the question what is absolute truth? How can we be sure that our notion of what we think is the truth isn’t fallible?

A century ago when Isaac Newton put the laws of mechanics on paper, people thought that he explained how the entire universe worked. Why? Well, his findings, formulas, equations and laws, predicted what would happen in the physical world accurately. But a couple of decades ago, we implemented into the realm of the physical world, what we know as quantum mechanics and the world of quanta. Newton’s laws did not apply in this microscopic world or micro cosmos as people were expecting. So what individuals thought it was absolute truth at that time was completely erroneous decades later.

My point being, how can we be certain that what we know now its not just a pretentious truth that can’t be subject of fallibilism. Certainly it works and it looks good. For example, Einstein theorem of relativity was proven right or least that it worked when satellites orbiting the Earth and hundreds of miles per hour needed to adjust their times because time traveled slower or faster at those speeds. But just because it works, does not mean it is the absolute truth behind it. We cannot be sure that this will stay true say five hundred years or even a hundred years from now.

The notion of truth arrives as a consequence of a question, an inquiry. As human beings, we are curious and have this gene that propels us to explore our surroundings. So when we are in doubt we search for answers. During this state of mind, we are uncomfortable the way we feel, we want to grasp on to what seems the truth to our perception and once we are in a state of truth, our selves remain in a period of calmness or tranquility.

Absolute or at least relative truth comes from what we perceive of the world. We assume that our world is real, at least the one we are living in right now and all its surroundings. What interact with the real world are our senses. Our senses, to some extent, are telling us what is real or not. The problem is, how do we know there isn’t something else, another world, that we cannot see, or perceive due to the limitations of our senses. Take for example, the color blinded. The individual cannot see certain colors and to him/her different colors look the same. Now, apply that to us, what if we are missing something that’s right in front of us and we like the color blinded think it is the same color, but in reality it is not.

The only method that we can at least arrive to some sense of truth is through science. Science allows us to ask questions, experiment and derive truths from the results. But this process has to be independent of human intervention. We cannot go choosing data that favors what we think is true and what is not. This is not real science and the “truth” is nothing but an invention of an individual based on his position regarding the matter. We have to attach it to something independent from our emotions or assumptions, something that never changes, and that is the real world. Regardless of how I feel or what I want it to be, if I try to walk on water, I am certainly going to drown, as I don’t know how to swim.

However, even science has its own fault as I explained earlier. Nowadays, scientists are looking at other ways to explain our world and the universe. They are talking about more than ten dimensions that we exist in. Assimilating the fact that time was a fourth dimension was tough enough, but more than ten dimensions? Certainly science will keep evolving and new explanations and new “truths” about the world will appear that will be subject of fallibilism. But for now, we can work with what we think is the truth.

-Antonio Jou