Does anyone else believe there can be Universal truths?

Question

As opposed to subjective ones.

Not rules, laws, etc..

Answer 1

Yes, I believe there are universal truths. One is that change is constant. Another is that energy never ceases to be. It only changes form.

I'm not saying that I totally understand these concepts but I do believe in them. I don't think that as humans we can comprehend the total implications of these. We tend to think in almost a one dimensional plain. We have a hard time seeing beyond our own experiences and cultures and cannot see into the vastness of what really is. We can only try.

Subjective truths also exist. What is true for one person may be totally false for another. Examples are: Religion, Politics, Love, and Belief. There are many others but I think you get the point. What is right and true for you may not be right and true for me. I think we all need to realize that subjective truth is a matter of opinion and each of us has a right to our own. Wouldn't this be a great world to live in if we stopped trying to convince everyone that we are right and they are wrong?

Answer 2

The clear answer is that there have to be universal truths. One example is in the fact that you have written a question, I have read it, and am now answering that question. What was in your mind concerning this question has now been shared with my mind. One absolute truth is that "You asked the question "Does anyone else believe there can be Universal truths" . Modern Western Society wants to pretend that we do not believe in absolute truths because we want to not have to deal with the difficult issues of what this means in the realm of religion, ethics, sexuality, and politics.

But banks are still making 2+2=4 when they determine how much is left in your bank account and most people feel that someone did something absolutely and universally wrong when the abuse, rape, and kill a child. Relative moral values in light of such brutality do not really reflect the human conscience.

So, yes I do believe in absolute universal truths and everyone really does in their heart. Such a belief is not always comforting so post modern society strives to find tolerance and peace through pretending that such truth does not exist.

Our society is living in denial because it feels better and requires less of us. It also has despaired at finding answers to the big questions. This is more cultural exhaustion than philosophical insight. My hope is that we will catch our breath as a culture and return to the task of working on finding hard answers to the hard questions of life.

Answer 3

There are absolute truths, but humans do not have the capabilities of understanding them. Since we base everything we know and believe on perception, and we cannot understand all information about any given subject, we cannot have a true perception about anything. If all information is known, then a true perception can be known, and thus universal truths can exist, but we cannot understand or know them at our current capabilities. So even the old 1=1 argument is debatable as a universal truth, since it is only based on our perception that 1 exists and is constant and consistent within itself.

Answer 4

Absolutely.

Some people say that we humans cannot comprehend absolute truths. And if you disagree with them, they will defend their position. They think they are absolutely correct. (?!?!?)

God created us in His image, and as such, we have many characteristics that God has. He gave us the ability to understand absolutes. Right from wrong. Up from down, etc. Sure, everything is relative, for example, if you are in Australia, and I am in the USA, and we both point up, we will be pointing in different directions.

A murderer can look at a thief and say, I am bad, he is good. The thief can look at a saint and say, I am bad, he is good. The saint can look at Christ and say, I am bad, He is good.

You must have a standard by which to compare everything in order to get your bearing. That standard is the Word of God.

Jesus stated: "I am the way, the truth and the life". So if Jesus is truth, and the Bible says that the Word was made flesh, then Jesus is the Word of God. The Apostle Paul stated: "Follow me as I follow Christ". So you can understand absolute truth, if you look to Christ as the standard.

SUCCESS!

Answer 5

The notion of subjective truth is nonsensical. It means there can be a proposition, p, that is 'true for person X but not for anyone else'. But suppose person X says, "p is true for me but not for anyone else". That claim is, if true, true for X but not for anyone else. Do you see that such a notion is nonsense? If something is true it is true for all of us - it is, in a word, objective.

A universal truth is one that applies universally, for example, "What goes up must come down".

The 'opposite' (the converse) of a universal truth is a local truth, for example, "The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain".

Answer 6

I do. The one I like is all about love, my fascination of choice these days. There are of course other topics that have universal truths swirling about them. I find it very interesting when I find sometime that won't bend to fit the situation, it restores my faith that there is more to all this that we'll never know.

Answer 7

i think love is a sick joke, and the combination of things that happened and failed to happen leaves me more cynical than before. ultimately, one has to walk alone in this journey called life.

so there can never be universal truth

Answer 8

Yes. I'm willing to take a gamble that 1=1.

Answer 9

yea that 1=1....the sky is blue...things like dat...