The search for truth

This blog post will mark my return to a constant flow of blogging (most probably :D) this will be mostly about the search for truth, which we are arguably many many many years from now until we know the full truth about something. Enjoy!

The search for truth: Science is the closest thing to a pure and accepted truth, despite the fact that the pursuit of science and knowledge has only clarified it in our minds that we are getting no closer to knowing a pure truth. This links in with paradigm shifts and how it was once universally believed that the world was flat and if you went to the edge it would be a waterfall that you could fall off of. Sounds sensible, right? The philosopher Kant believes that the real human condition is not mortality but instead to strive constantly for the absolute truth and to never find it.

Kant, Aristotle Bacon and Newton: Kant delves deeper into his argument of truth and how we know things by identifying two different types of “truth” these are:

Apriori – It is true by definition, you need no prior experience to know that a triangle has 3 sides; by looking you can tell.

Aposteriori – These are observations of the world that make facts, for example conducting surveys and so on.

Aristotle, Bacon and Newton all shared the belief that the world exists solely of things. They believed that for example if a tree falls in the woods then it still makes a sound regardless of if any is around to hear it because it is still a physical being even if we aren't perceiving it at that very moment, these objects are still physically there. This is linked in closely with Plato and his idea of forms and the Cave theory.

Bacon, Newton and other empiricists (known as mechanical materialists) thought that the cosmos is the sum total of many thing, some of the things are very small and remote, for example atoms or molecules and so therefore would be difficult to see, however they are still there as objects and have been there for ages without us ever being able to see them.

The idea of solipsism would be a main opposition to this theory insofar as the idea of solipsism is that everything is a dream, the only thing that is there or real is you and they say your life is just images in a dream that you have concocted. That is just wack.

From the ideas of Kant, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche we find the idea that to exist is not a predicate of any possible object, existence isn't “caused” by anything it is a needed precondition of perception or consciousness – this idea was a breakthrough during the scientific revolution.

Logic – Deduction vs. Induction. FIGHT: From Aristotle, we are brought about to the fight between deduction and induction. In the “Organon” this tells us that deduction preserves truth and respects authority above all else and this is perhaps the most characteristic idea of the Greco-Roman world; deduction depends on a series of indisputable axioms known to a group of philosopher Kings (Plato and his Republic) or known to a religious hierarchy of priests and this produced singular / particular truths from principles. An example of a pre-set deductive axiom would be all swans are white, this is a swan, you can see it is white. This is a very dogmatic view that does not allow for any inquiry or exceptions. The Organon and other scriptures at this time were seen as fact and no-one could say otherwise. Francis Bacon spoke out about how if an axiom is intrinsically false, then the whole thing is not true – for example with the swans, not all of them are white because black swans exist too. This means that if the deductive logic of an axiom is wrong it cannot be seen as fact.

Newton to Einstein: Newton’s laws of gravity state that the universe runs according to universal laws that are applied everywhere – you can find out everything with amalgamation of knowledge, for example every disease can be understood by constantly adding to the knowledge already gained – all things can be proven scientifically and Newtonian knowledge paved the way for such technological advancements as the steam age and so on.

The Vienna Circle 1922: This consisted of philosophers and this group of philosophers decided that they had to apply science to philosophy to find any kind of facts as philosophy by itself was just a waste of time and the way forward was science. The Verification principle, which was bore through the ideas of the logical positivists dictate that the way you verify something gives you the truth of any proposition – this means that if it cannot be verified then it cannot be claimed as true or false. However, Karl Popper stated that the verification principle itself cannot be verified as there is no way to actually verify it. Well I'm now at a loss as to how we find out if something is absolutely true – thanks a lot Karl.

Well there you have it, my notes on science and truths, hope you found is somewhat enlightening and enjoyed the post. If you read it that is, if not thanks for the views :)