the truth? Or your perception of it?

Is it the truth that you have scored 200 on fluther in 4 days, or is this just my perception? If it’s the truth, nicely done.

I injured my back recently, rendering me useless to the exterior world. All I can do is be on the computer.

Truth is absolute first; then perceptions follow. Group perceptions do not create truth.

is that your honest individal belief? That truth comes before perception?

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.

Truth is not always fact. Think about it, a few hundred years ago people “knew” the world was flat, and that was a fact, therefore it was “true.”

If you really want to get into the meaning of truth vs. the perception of truth, read Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. Then, when you’re done with that, come join my AP Language and Composition class because that is ALL we talk about. (I’m actually writing an essay on this very topic at the moment).

@riser; sorry about your back. I do my best cogitation on the floor on a heating pad, then easy stretches and then tread mill. I have been rehabbing back for a long time. Just sitting here ain’t gonna do it. And that’s the truth.

Thank you. My job is writing so I have to sit all day anyway.

@riser: What is your definition of truth? If truth=fact then no truth truly exists. If truth=what you know to be true (as in a memory of something) then that would be your perception, as psychologists have studied and proven, memory is often faulty.
So I guess what I’m saying is that you need to be able to define truth before we can argue whether truth or perception comes first.

You just did.

I guess what I am questioning is if the majority are honest with themselves if they see that what they believe to be true is out of the strength of perception.

For example… a Christian will tell you that what they believe is absolute truth. They can’t prove it to an Atheist, but it is “absolute truth” to them, however, in this definition, that “truth” is only a perception, therefore that Christian believes in perception over absolutes.

P.S. I am not trying to stir a debate that Christianity is only a perception, it very well could be an absolute, but for the sake of this framework I am showing it as a perception.

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.

YES! Thank you omfgTALijustIMDu! That is exactly what I was looking for, ultimately coming to the point that INDIVIDUALLY there are no absolutes, only perception.

YAY! Delerium :P

lol, you have an excuse for getting a score like that so quickly. Lucky! XD

And you and your pressuring of me!
I was just going to say that i’m not a platonic thinker. :)

Haha riser, I’m glad someone else shares my enthusiasm for the “truth” debate. When you spend five months continuously talking about it, you HAVE to be interested or it’s just brutal.

I know I’m the different one here. But at least if you ask a question looking for input from various viewpoints, consider each one. It is as if you ask, and are looking for a specific answer that aligns with your own belief. What is the point in that? – it isn’t scholarly.

I disagree with the idea that Truth is equivalent to fact or faith. Truth is absolute, and is something to be discovered. Facts and Faith are perceptions.

Truth is not made by man. It is what makes gravity work, what makes cancer spread, what makes cells replicate, what causes ecosystems to run efficiently. Truth is absolute.

Facts, and Faith are made by man in his research and search for Truth. They are the conclusion he comes to while studying. Facts change as he learns more. Faith changes as he grows. Facts are never absolute, and neither is faith because they are works in progress.

@riser: congratulations, you’ve just rediscovered postmodernism.

@cwilbur: Yes, but more compartmentalized because perception can still be absolute.

@squirbel: Then truth exists in the world but it is impossible for humans to know of it?

No, it is possible to know, but must be sought out and discovered.

More like: truth exists, but all our understanding of truth and our perception of truth is mediated by our subjective perceptions.

yes, thanks

People mostly operate within (and stop themselves from thinking outside of) their beliefs. And they usually don’t have any idea how inaccurate that view is. So for these people, these invented truths are the most important, in the sense of being most influential to them.

Would everything be a perception untill you can actually prove that is is the truth? Because basically you can believe anything or say anything that you want and you can make it seem like the truth but before you know the actual truth for sure then it would only be a perception