Junior Bryce Foshee examines origins of absolute truth

Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle once penned, “The search for truth is in one way hard and in another way easy, for it is evident that no one can master it fully or miss it wholly.”

The concept of truth is one of the oldest questions humans face and it retains every ounce of importance in today’s world. At the SJV Town Hall, Gen. John Kelly shared the far-reaching importance of truth. 

“The truth is one of the most important things in our country, in our relationships with each other, and certainly in our government,” Kelly said. “The president of the United States, whether it’s Donald Trump, Barack Obama, George Washington, [must be] served by people that come to him and tell him the truth.”

While I was impacted by these words, spoken from a man who, for two years, advised the most powerful leader in the world, they were not surprising. Every second of every day, people operate based on some concept of the truth.

Humans solve math problems with it, make moral decisions and, at some point, decide who to marry based on their standard of truth.

The significance that one’s standard of truth plays in their life is immediately apparent. The issue with this fact, as Sam Cross, previous editor-in-chief of The Feather and prolific editorial writer, says, is that people tend to think about truth in different ways.

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“Truth governs our every action and thought,” Cross said. “Each person sees the world differently, which leads to many unique interpretations of truth. This is the root of all human conflict, and where I found myself struggling to understand the actions of my peers.”

Since not every person shares a common framework for interpreting right and wrong, true or untrue, humans set their standard of truth based on different sources. The significance of this fact cannot be overstated. One must consider from where their standard of truth comes, as the source reveals the validity of the standard itself.

The world offers numerous sources of truth. The Greeks, for example, debated whether truth had its foundation in mathematics or in the logical abilities each person is born with; whether it was given to humans by the gods or if a consistent standard even exists.

Even more ancient than the Greeks is the concept that God is the definitive source of truth. Judeo-Christianity views God as the ultimate standard for right and wrong.

One need not open a history book to find a standard, however. In America, where freedom is a valued ideal, many believe in building one’s own standard based on “living your own truth.”

Politics also offers itself as a source of truth. Political ideology allows one to classify ideas and people as right or wrong, or even good or evil, based on their rightward or leftward leaning.

The list of potential sources extends on and on. Humans can choose to believe in science, whatever the law says, popular media, what their friends think, feelings and emotions or any combination of these.

Despite various sources, people share one thing in common: they’ve all picked a truth. Whether consciously or not, every individual decides how to make decisions and pursue them with conviction.

The decision to choose a standard of truth from within or from an external source remains an ongoing conflict each person must face. No middle ground is offered concerning this issue; personal modification of the Bible, for example, is identical to creating a new standard from scratch.

A person borrows as much of their parent’s or authority’s beliefs as possible. It would be helpful if their ideas aligned with reality so they could add to it their understanding of science.

However, self-constructed views of truth fail to be objective. Humans hold to the belief that they are correct, even with no information to back it up. Anyone can justify almost anything, even actions they would condemn if someone else committed them.

This is the great flaw in self-derived standards; they favor oneself.

The truth is out there; nothing in the world, from physics to relationships, could work if the truth does not exist. To find it, individuals must look farther than their own desires.

Where do you derive your standard of truth from? Share in the comments what you think about the topic of truth.

Read the previous column in this series, How then shall I live: Relevance of truth.

For more articles, read Local scientists, students, teachers discuss climate crisis, controversies surface or COLUMN: Global impact begins at local level.

Bryce Foshee can be reached via Twitter and via email.