Q&A: Postmodernism
Postmodernism
Question
Hello Rabbi,
How, despite the fact that it is impossible to know the truth (if there is one) with certainty, do you conclude that there is truth? After all, that itself is a certain claim, and if the truth cannot be known, how can one know that there is truth?
Answer
Why did you decide that this is a certain claim?
Discussion on Answer
Why should this need to be proven? What leads you to assume that two parallel lines do not meet, or that exactly one straight line passes through two points? Because you simply understand that this is so. The same is true regarding truth.
Regarding the paradoxical claim that there is no objective truth—isn't it similar to the claim that there is no certainty about anything except for that principle itself? If so, if we accept the second claim, why not the first?
Okay, I understand. What is the thought process that leads the Rabbi to claim that there is truth—the paradox in the postmodernist claim? That is, if it cannot be proven with certainty either that there is truth or that there is no truth, what leads the Rabbi to hold the view that there is absolute truth?