Is there such a thing as absolute truth?

Answer 1

Well, if the answer to this question is "no," then the statement, "There is no absolute truth," must be absolutely true. As this is a paradox, this statement must be false, meaning that the inverse must be true ... there is such a thing as absolute truth.

Edit: If there was no such thing as absolute truth, the statement 2 + 2 = 4 would be up for some debate, no? I do find it humorous that every other answer thus far claims that there are no absolute truths ... these are quite uncertain times, indeed.

Answer 2

Egads, some of those earlier answers are scary! Of course there IS such a thing as absolute truth. Truth was never determined by an opinion poll. Public opinion should never be confused with truth. There are some areas that are governed by opinion, certainly; there are other areas that are governed by absolute truth. Facts are facts. If I want to find truth, I need to go to the source from which it comes and research it, find out all I can about it -- not just sit around and decide what I want it to be. Reality is not affected by my perception of it.

For example, it does not matter one whit what I think about God; He is Who He is, regardless of what anyone says or thinks about Him. What I think about judgment day is also totally irrelevant. "Not believing in" hell will not keep me from being sent there, for instance.

Humans are awfully arrogant to think that we determine what is "true for us" individually. I can decide what I want to think, what I want to agree with, but that doesn't make any of the things with which I agree any more true just because I agree with them -- or less true because I don't. I may not like some of the truths I find, but they're still true.

Answer 3

I think this kind of goes back to the situation of Socrates speaking to Eurephro (sp?). Socrates is being charged with impiety, and Eurephro is charging his father with the same charge. Socrates asks him, "you must be wise to know what impiety is in order to charge your own father with it" basically. So Socrates asks him to DEFINE what impiety is. Eurephryo says it's an act that is unpleasing to the Gods. Socrates says "but even the God's argue amongst themselves, so how do we know what is pleasing to the Gods?" Eurephro says "that which pleases the Gods all of the time", and Socrates answers the question with another question and it keeps going in circles until Eurephro gets frustrated and leaves. So...(stay with me here, I'm getting to a point, I swear! lol)
In order to know if there is such a thing as an absolute truth, first you have to define truth. In MY opinion only, I believe what we consider to be TRUE is also that which we consider to be fact. BUT...where do "facts" come from? Facts come from an idea of someone else who felt they could prove something based on their own personal experience and observation. But...what are observations based on? Perception. Is perception always 100% reliable? I don't think so, otherwise we wouldn't have optical illusions and sounds so high pitched we can't hear them among other things. So...since perception is not 100% reliable, and we formulate our facts based on what we perceive, and we call these facts "truth", can truth even really exist?? I don't think it can, and that's why *I* believe there is no such thing as an absolute truth.

Answer 4

First of all, the Platonic dialog mentioned above is the Euthyphro. In it, Socrates asks Euthyphro to give him the logical cause of piety, i.e. the essence of piety, or what makes a pious thing pious.

*note* Socrates defeates Euthyphro's suggestion that piety is what is loved by all the God's by showing that the God's love holy things because they are holy. A god does not make something holy because he loves it.


In response to the actual question, there are indeed ultimate truths, what Plato called the Forms. These truths are often called the laws of the universe, some people call them god. Consider them to be the underlying structure upon which reality is based. A person can draw a triangle, and it will be imperfect, but it will resemble the ideal of a triangle, as determined by the laws of the universe.

Answer 5

An eternal question. Objectivists will of course say yes. From Plato on down people have tried to hunt down absolute truth with zeal and confidence.

Relativists of course deny the existence of absolute truth. And to me Einstein went a long way to disproving objectivism by rejecting Newtonian physics which were widely considered absolute.

Me? I'm a skeptic. Its all relative. Its all in your point of view.

Answer 6

Yes.The Absolute Truth is that single truth on which the appearance of the whole Universe of existence is based ,whose manifestation in reality is only a Mirage.

Answer 7

It is absolutely true that all things change and never remain exactly the same. Erstwhile it is absolutely true that we can experience things like Love, Compassion, Suffering and so on. It is furthermore true that as mere mortals we have a limited perception of abslolute truths!

Answer 8

All truth is filtered through our experiences and prejudices before it is spewed out of our mouths. So, no, there is no such thing as aboslute truth.

Answer 9

Yes, On this day of October 25, 2006 at 9.45 am I at this place have read your question and answered with this is an absolute truth.

Answer 10

Absolutely not.

Truth, like beauty, exists in the eye of the beholder.