Quotations and Literature Forum

I see your point; he was telling the truth because thats how he saw it, but that's what perception is. That wasn't the reality of the situation.

Come on Thomas, stretch your perceptions. To him it was the reality of it.

Another, a father and son go out for a feed. Dad buys the same hamburger, chips and a drink for both of them. Dad finishes and is still not satisfied, the lad cannot finish his meal. Which is true, the meal was too big or the meal was not big enough?

The facts are: the weight of the hamburger, the weight of the chips, the volume of the drink, the cost and the energy value. That and MacDonald's is tantamount to child abuse.

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السلام عليكم

Agree there....

Alright, let me stretch....
So you're saying it's true that the meal was not enough for the dad; true, too, that it was too much for the kid.

So truth does not have to be fact, it's actually subjective.

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السلام عليكم

I understand what you're saying, but I still disagree... truth isn't relative. Truth is what it is. What's true about the meal they had is what it is. How they reacted to the meal doesn't change what's true about the meal.

So if you and I are standing in a room with the A/C on and I say "It's freezing in here!" and you say, "Oh, man, it feels good"; then what's true about the temperature is its degree... it's a fact.

Your reaction to a meal or the temperature in a room is a subjective "opinion".

(If anyone else is reading,
do you believe truth is relative?)

I think that truth is dependent upon your specific viewpoint, but not entirely. Truth is based on how we perceive the world around us, so without the world to provide stimulus, we have no truth.

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Sanctuary: a small safe place in a troubling world

I would have to agree that ones veiwpoint determines the truth for that being, however everyone has their own truths. A truth is between a fact and an opinion. Saying it is and opinion with some backbone could be a way to put it.

If I want to kill someone, then I will. Because it's true for me that murder is fine.

True enough, but the fact is the society in which you live has laws aginst such things. I see your truth and raise you a fact.

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السلام عليكم

this is how i see it.

if i were to say: 'I had a burger this morning and it was gross'
the whole sentence is the truth, the fact is that i did have a hamburger, but the opinion was that it was gross.

I think it's relative in the form that you use the truth.

another example. if i accidentally poisoned someone with bad food.
did i kill him?
no - truth (the food did)
yes - truth (indirectly)

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-Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort. -
Franklin D. Roosevelt

Who decides what things are ALWAYS true?

Try this for a truth.
Formal education is useless.

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السلام عليكم

That is an opinion.

If you're a tribal bushman living in the Kalahari? Would not the situation then make it a truth? How about

Planting crops is a waste of time and will feed no one.

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السلام عليكم