What is truth?

Question

What, precisely, is truth?

Not a dictionary definition, but how can you be sure that something is true?

Oh, dear. I think I'm going to leave picking the best answer to voters, since many of you have made great points...

Answer 1

truth is often the darkness lurking behind the light.
it is the smallest speck of light not visible in the dark..
Truth is often not where it is found, but where it can be hidden.
:-)

Answer 2

The Only Sure Fire Way To Know Truth Mate Is To Listen To Yourself And If What Comes Out Of Your Mouth Or Is In Your Thoughts Is The Truth Then You Know The Answer.
It's Like The Joke "How Do You Know When A Politician Is Lying? You Can See Their Lips Moving!"
Truth Is Subjective And I Believe Everyone Makes Their Own Version Of Truth That They Can Be Happy With Whether Or Not It Is In Fact The Whole Truth?
Of Course God Is Truth His The Light But For Non Christians & Non Believers My Main Answer Will Have To Suffice.

Answer 3

One cannot be precise in defining truth. That being said, conventional understanding of truth (from a philosophical prospective), is that something that is objectively proven, is true. Of course one can question the validity of such a concept, but it would be impractical and somewhat pointless. The intellectual community has created a criteria and measuring device for "truth", and most people accept it. An example would be the "truth" that earth is a sphere as opposed to being flat. Based on scientific observation, one can reasonably say that it is an objective and absolute fact. However, there are a select few out there who would say that we as humans are not infallible, and therefore, perhaps, we are simply misreading the situation. There is a group called the "Flat earth society", who feel very strongly that the earth is flat. And believe it or not, they come up with "evidence" to support their belief. Of course, the criteria for objective truths for most academics would be in disagreement with the methodology used by the flat earth society, however, we must admit the possibility that we are wrong. I hope I was clear in my explanation.

Answer 4

If you believe in a religion then you know what truth is but only in the concept of that religion. No one knows the truth and will only know it when you. For the truth is in the Bible for I am a Christian and I feel it when I do wrong, the same is when I hear the truth.

Answer 5

Truth is what you believe is the right thing to do or the proper action to take. It really depends on the way you were raised, your beliefs(religion), your family and friends who influenced your thoughts and as well as what you have learned in school. All these are filters that add up over time and sit in front of you to help you make better decisions what we call the 'right' decisions, whether they be moral decisions or simply logical decisions, we base them on what we believe our understanding to be as the 'right' decision to make because of the "Truth's" that we learned in our lives.

Everyone has different perspectives because we all have different filters that guide us through life and we choose our paths based on what we believe to be true in our heart and minds and based on those "Truth's" that affect our experiences we become who we are and when we pass away the only thing left are the things that we did based on what we considered to be true.

Answer 6

Truth is the antonym of lie. You can always know if a person is lying: by the expression on his face, he can't look at you straight in the eye and when you ask him for the truth, bowing his head, he either stays silent or stammers out more lies.

Answer 7

Beauty.


even dishonesty can be beautiful in its intention
such as the dishonesty of a three year old that strives to be true.The lie has a beauty that is true in its earnest sincerity. What a wonderful question! I love truth and beauty.
That statement is truth, even if it is impossible to love an idea..

Perhaps truth is a mustang, the horse, wild, free and
and mostly unattainable if you live in the city..

Answer 8

Truth is that force which makes you dumb founded.. and from that point onward you will not ask such question..

First you have to search your self.. within yourself

Start with the premise that what ever you Hear,see or believ is UNTRUTH... and then your real search will start... persistent efforts will take you to The Truth..

Answer 9

Truth is consistency... what does not change with time or circumstance is truth. The only way we recognize truth is by having repeated experience of an identical thing. Every time I touch the fire, I feel hot... so fire is hot and so on with all other truths we recognize. We also borrow other people truths through having developed faith in them, which again is through repeated positive experience with them.

Answer 10

The truth is, beneath our skin there is flesh
Beneath our flesh there is bone
But the most amazing truth is that we are made up of air. There is more space between the molecules than there is molecules.

The truth amazes and is immovable.

Answer 11

Truth is absolute, but our understanding of truth at any particular point in time is relative and progressive. I can say. though it is not based upon personal observation, that the universe had a beginning, but I can not provide the details of how it began. Science itself is progressive, and not always linear in that progression. If you read mankind's oldest modern book, the Bible, from cover to cover you will see that religious truth is in a similar progression as science. In either case we arrive at the truth by impartially examining all relavent data and coming to an understanding which harmonizes that data. or set of facts. I do believe that we can arrive at the truth: