Is there such a thing as absolute truth? What is it?

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   Dr CHE Sadaphalposted 8 years ago

   After all, if a person insists that truth is relative (and we can't determine what beliefs are right and wrong), what reason is there to believe anything that they say?
   

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   paradigmsearchposted 8 years ago

   I think, therefore I am.
   
   Start from there.

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      Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      nice ending a forum thread.

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         Castlepalomaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Yet, a good start.

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            Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            Individual consciousness / free will is absolute reality. We CAN determine what truths are right or wrong based on predictable human nature / nature.
            
            Here is a good direction: Is human nature (behavior/psychology) scientifically predictable?

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               Sam Shepardsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               What free will do you mean? Being conscious e.g. being a thinking thing does not necessarly imply free will. Do you control your biology, your upbringing, all the ideas that come into your head, the people that talk to you? More often than not you are a bio machine that runs a lot of stories, chatter, mixed ideas, filtering. Try to imagine how much is your own thinking through things from first principles. Mostly we rationalize after the fact and develop easy to follow patterns. I don't want to absolve people from responsibility for anything, but I wouldn't be so fast to call free will absolute reality. Maybe I'm not a determinist like spinoza, but I'm sceptical about what people really know and how much you really control.
               
               Most experiential and inductive knowledge is the best till we know better. Most things hold under certain conditions, not by absolutes.
               We can do some solid deductive reasoning also if we agree on symbols and definitions e.g. 2+2 =/= 5. You need to agree on the system and the definitions of the parts.
               
               I'm a combination, mix, synthesis of all my teaching, reading, experience all of which is just a never ending chain of causation. Since I don't think I caused myself to exist, I'm not so free free as I want to be. Even me doing something completely random would not be that random, I wouldn't even conceive of doing it a certain way without my prior experience and knowledge...
               
               Don't worry I'm not absolving people from doing barbaric stuff or ruthless killings...

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                  Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  What people "really know" and how much they "really control" is potentially unlimited.
                  Can you argue against this statement?

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                  Dr CHE Sadaphalposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  "Being conscious e.g. being a thinking thing does not necessarly imply free will."
                  
                  In his book Free Will, Sam Harris would tend to agree with you. There he makes the case that free will is an illusion. Why? Because biochemical events (neurons firing) in our brain precede behavior, thus reducing  us and everything that we are, think and do to physical, biochemical events in our brains. Whether you agree with that synopsis or not is a matter of personal investigation, but this reduces the famous dictum of "I think, therefore I am" to, "I think because of something beyond my conscious control. Therefore, 'I am' because of something else."

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   Castlepalomaposted 8 years ago

   Only limited to the biggest part of the 99% bio mass of earth, we have never explored yet.

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      Kathryn L Hillposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      What people "really know" and how much they "really control" is limited "to the biggest part of the 99% bio mass of earth, we have never explored yet."
      Does this make sense?

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         Castlepalomaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         We have only experience at max 1% earth crust bio mass 6 miles beneath the surface of earth.

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   cheaptrickposted 8 years ago

   I love all the amazing word play on this site.The "arrogance of humanity" is so innate we don't even notice how it colors our perception.Truth?Relative to what?Bullshit...Absolute truth?Relative to absolute Bullshit.People don't care about the truth.People care about how much they like or dislike the person speaking;that's why narcissists and psychopaths rise to the top of every field and run the world;Then,when the rest of us cant take it anymore we have a big ass war and get rid of those nasty ass people...so the next crop can begin their rise to the top;it's a cycle;It's been going on for thousands of years...and we?You and I,are the fodder for those wars;The cattle bread to serve the sycophants who control this paradise run amuck.Ah sweet nihilism,how comforting you are.
   Funny thing is...this bunch of bullshit I wrote is just as true as anything else on this thread.

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      Castlepalomaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Is not BS just lying about something and that you just don't care if your lying.
      
      Don't waste my time with BS because I have a BS detector and will ignore when it climbs too high.
      
      I only follow politics and Religion to know what they are up to and move away to a protective distance. If I'm a little fish then I must learn to swim with the Sharks in a more recently dangerous world.

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         cheaptrickposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Sorry if I wasted your time...I'll try not to do that again...English is not my favorite language...I prefer ancient Aramaic....

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            Castlepalomaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            You didn't waste my time. It is all about degrees of truth.
            
            What you said can have a high degree of truth in a country where lying is the greatest pass time.

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               colorfuloneposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               

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                  Castlepalomaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  Lol.

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