Q&A: Arguments About Truth
Arguments About Truth
Question
Hello,
How can one deal with the problem that every human being thinks the truth is on his side? Since there are people no less wise than I am, and they disagree with me even after hearing my arguments, how can one know the truth?
If you discuss this in your books, I would appreciate it if you could define the general direction there in two lines, so that I’ll know the approach until I can get the book.
Thanks in advance.
Answer
The direction is that it’s impossible to deal with this, and there is no need to deal with it. When I come to formulate a position, I do not rely on anyone else’s opinion but only on my own. That is what is required of me, and nothing else can be demanded. So I don’t care what others think, but of course it is important to hear their arguments. Once I have heard all the arguments, I can formulate my own position and decide. That’s all. If I made a mistake, then I made a mistake. I am human, and that happens to everyone. The Holy One, blessed be He, does not come with complaints against His creatures.
In a related context, you may find it interesting to read here:
https://mikyab.net/%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%95%D7%AA%D7%95-%D7%A9%D7%9C-%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%91-%D7%94%D7%90%D7%9D-%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%91-%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%93%D7%A7-%D7%98%D7%95%D7%A8-69/
Discussion on Answer
And I didn’t understand the question. If I give you an answer, why wouldn’t you suspect that too? Isn’t it also the product of a truth machine—mine and yours? What is the point of dealing with such questions? We have our own tools, and with them we can arrive at our own answers. That is also what I wrote before.
A suggestion for an answer:
Maybe one can say that truth, exactly like beauty and morality, depends on human judgment, which means that there is no “absolute truth” and “absolute falsehood,” but rather layers of it.
I have a feeling Rabbi Michael Abraham would kill me for that suggestion, but maybe there’s something to it…
Why kill (do not murder)? I actually tend to agree. In most things a wise person says, there is something true—some aspect of the truth. That doesn’t mean there is no absolute truth, but that most of us do not possess it.
See my article: Is Jewish law pluralistic? https://mikyab.net/%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%94%D7%90%D7%9D-%D7%94%D7%94%D7%9C%D7%9B%D7%94-%D7%94%D7%99%D7%90-%D7%A4%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%A1%D7%98%D7%99%D7%AA/
I didn’t understand the answer.
The answer uses concepts like “what is required of me” or “whether they will have complaints against me.”
That’s not what is bothering me in the question.
Rather, since your mind is one “truth machine” among many, how can one rely on it when other intelligent machines like it think differently?
Thanks.