Is truth absolute?

it depends on who’s asking.

Truth depends on understanding. We don’t know that much yet, so it evolves. Like bodies.

Let me put it this way. Until 1492, the world was flat. Now it’s round.

hint: truth evolves to meet the needs of new discoveries

I was flying in a private plane from California to Oregon contemplating this question. As we approached Mt Shasta, I saw how beautiful it was. I noticed that from different angles it appeared to look like a completely different mountain. Did the Mountain change? Was the “truth” of the mountain any different just because it looked different? The conclusion I came to was that The absolute truth was that the mountain stayed the same. What changed was MY perspective.

More answers here and here.

Truth evolves as our perception of the world evolves. Truth—as anything else—is shaded by our perception. While there is possible a universal truth that does not change, no human can know it because everything we were do is changed by our experience and perception of the event.

I believe truth is absolute, and we still don’t know what it is. We discover, and have perpetual theories – but we don’t know until we know.

I love it when people tell me that there are no absolutes and then I ask them if they are absolutely sure. It always puts a smile on my face :D

Truth is absolute. We seek to know the truth. We have our own perception of truth which may be wrong or may be right. Example: Earth is round ( well not perfectly round ). In olden days, ppl had thoughts that earth was flat – this is their perspective which is false. Now we find that earth is round which is true based on concrete evidance. We seek truth thru religion and science – 2 main gateways for human to seek the absolute truth. I picked up some of these ideas from other flutherians and i believe this is my perspective of truth. I am yet to seek the absolute Truth. In religion terms, Buddha achieved pure englightment and the sees the absolute truth of the universe.

Lol, whoever greatanswer’d me on the old truth question, thank you. I forgot that response existed. At least I’m always the consistent. :)

squirbel..it was me haha….

“I have a theory that the truth is never told during the nine-to-five hours.”
~Hunter S. Thompson

well said cheebdragon… except for the 12–1 hour

Isn’t it just a question of semantics?

There are always variables so I would have to say no.

So truth evolves? Does it change? Or is it just that we change? I appreciate Judi’s perspective analogy, which implies that we change, but truth does not. Or does it??

@syz: say more about that, please.

@niña: I’m asking….

It really depends on your definition of the word..

I think the best answer is “no one knows for sure.”

That said, I think some truths are, as far as we know, absolute. E.g., 2+2=4, or the universal gravitational constant = 6.67300 × 10–11 m3 kg-1 s-2, or the speed of light in a vacuum is 299,792,458 meters per second.

I feel reasonably safe in assuming these are absolute in that they are not contingent on perspective, circumstances, or other modifiers. That said, I would not be entirely surprised if, eventually, one of these things was found to be inaccurate. I’m not sure that’s the same thing as “not true” but that is getting into semantics.

A lot of good answers here, Basically truth is absolute, our knowledge is not. By the way, most people in 1492 knew the earth was round, The educated class had known that for hundreds and hundreds of years.

But for significantly large values of 2, 2+2=5. Significantly large 2’s are still 2’s.

Seriously speaking, i do not think so. I believe that what we know about an object is always shaped by so many things that have nothing to do with the object that… well, just forget it.

Things are the way you perceive them, until something changes your perception.

Perception is not equal to truth.

And truth is not equal to fact.

@omgTALIjustIMDu: Here was my previous response:

Yes it is my honest belief.

I believe that there is Truth, and we seek after it with a subconscious fervor. Almost everyone has this desire and need to know what is true. We use science to discover truth. We use faith to experience truth.

Truth first, perceptions of truth after.

@squirbel: And here’s my previous response:

Ah, so here’s the conflict. Are you considering faith and perception to be one in the same? Many people belive their religions to be absolute truth, but obviously they can’t all be. I guess in the end it all comes back to the same answer; truth itself is a perception and a belief. It cannot be proven, nor disproven.