Even though this is an old topic, I think it's
an important one.

Several people suggested that truth
changes with peoples' life experience or
is different for different people. Are those
statements true? If you answer in terms
of some fact which is true apart from
individual subjective beliefs, then you
have bought into the notion of objective
truth. If you say that those statements are
just true for those people, then why
should we bother with them? After all, we
have our own beliefs. The beliefs of
others should have no effect on us if truth
is subjective. But very often people do
change their mind about their beliefs.
This is because some new experience,
argument or piece of evidence
challenges their present beliefs. They
then abandon their beliefs for new ones,
thinking that these new beliefs match up
more closely with reality.

What I think is going with people saying
truth is different for different people or
chagnes over time si that people are
using the word "true" for "believe" or
"believe to be true." Every person has his
or her own set of beliefs--what they
perceive to be true (represent reality)--and
their own unique point of view. This is
consistent with the correspondence
theory of truth. But just because people
have a unique set of beliefs and strongly
and sincerely BELIEVE certain
propositions are true doesn't necessarily
imply that they ARE true. "Believing don't
make it so" as the saying goes.

Sometimes people agree, sometimes
they disagree. But in order to even have a
disagreement, the truth must be a
determinate thing, something separate
from our beliefs. Otherwise (a) it would be
impossible to have a false belief, yet we
acknowledge false beliefs (at least in
others' thinking) all the time (b) we
couldn't have a disagreement--because
disagreements assume some objective
truth which is in dispute (c) we'd never
change or revise our beliefs in the light of
new evidence or data (why change when
your beliefs are always "true for you")

The question, then, is how do we tell
which beliefs match up most closely with
reality.

Prof. Borrowdale
borrowdalej@lanecc.edu
541-463-5434