The Case for Objective Truth

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THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE
What is truth? John 1839
I am Truth!!!
Truth is Inconvenient! Truth is power
Truth is lost in translation!
Truth is out of style!
Truth is stranger than fiction!
There is no truth!
The Truth is Within You
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The Case for Truth

• It is an old maxim of mine that when you have
  excluded the impossible, whatever remains,
  however improbable, must be the truth.
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

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Why is this important?

• The issue of truth is perhaps the most
  foundational issue to any discussion in
  apologetics, worldview thinking, and theology.

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Consider the following quotes
It is no truth that makes man great, but man who
makes truth great. Confucius (c. 551-479 B.C).
The victor will never be asked if he told the
truth. Adolf Hitler.
Truth-what we think it is at any given moment of
time. Luigi Pirandello.
No man thoroughly understand a truth until he has
contended against it. Ralph Waldo Emerson.
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Consider the following quotes
Why shouldnt truth be stranger than fiction?
Fiction, after all, has to make sense? Mark
Twain
The most striking contradiction of our
civilization is the fundamental reverence for
truth which we profess and the thorough-going
disregard for it which we practice.
Vilhjalmur Stefansson.
Fraud and falsehood only dread examination.
Truth invites it. Thomas Cooper (1759-1839).
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What is Truth?

• A cynical denial of the possibility of
  knowing truth.
• A sneering jest at the idea of saying
  something abstract its impractical for daily
  living.
• A question to engage in the philosophical idea of
  truth.
• 4. Earnest desire to know what truth is.

Near the amphitheater in Caesarea a stone tablet
was found with an inscription of the name Pontius
Pilate, dedicated to Tiberius Caesar who
nominated him as procurator.   The tablet says
"Tiberieum, Pontius Pilatus, Prefect of Judea".
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If objective truth is impossible

• All reasoning becomes impossible
• 2. Undercuts knowledge beliefs
• 3. Pointless to give a reason for the faith that
  is in you
• 4. Leads to intellectual superficiality, sensate
  decadence, abuse of power, cynicism scorn,
  marketing manipulation

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What does objective mean?

• What objective does not mean
• Unemotional attitude
• Detached attitude
• Impersonal attitude
• Known by all
• Believed by all
• Exhaustive Certainty or indubitability.

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What does objective mean?

• To say of what is that it is not, or of what is
  not that it is, is false while to say of what is
  that it is, or that it is not, will say either
  what is true or what is false
• Aristotles Metaphysics,
• Book IV, 7 1011b1 26

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What objective Truth Does Mean

• It is independent of the knower his/her
  consciousness.
• It is telling like it is it is factual.
• It corresponds to reality or actuality,
• It identifies things the way they actually are.
• It is absolute and independent.
• It can never fail, diminish, change, or be
  extinguished.

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What is the Truth?

• Here is my definition of truth
• Truth is that which corresponds to reality,
  identifies things as they actually are, can never
  fail, diminish, change, or be extinguished, must
  be able to be expressed in logical propositions
  (tt true), and is sourced in the God of the
  Bible who is the Author of all truth.

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A Closer Look at the Use of Correspondence

• When I use the word correspondence I am not
  advocating the idea that there is a
  correspondence between our ideas or mental images
  and things in the real world.

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A Closer Look at the Use of Correspondence

• Rather, I embrace an identity theory of truth.
  What this means is that the very X that exists in
  the objective world re-exists in the mind
  abstracted from material things. Stated
  differently, a truth of a judgment consists in
  the identity of its content with a fact. So,
  when I look at an object I am not seeing a copy
  or picture of the object in my mind, I am
  actually seeing the object.

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Correspondence Theory of Truth As held by
philosophers like John Locke, there is a
correspondence between mental images and objects
in the real world.
Correspondence
The Object itself
The Idea
G A P
If true ideas are pictures, images, or copies of
real objects, then what we have in our mind and
immediately know are only those pictures (not
real forms). If so, then we can never really know
whether or not those pictures correspond to real
objects. In other words, how can we be sure
whether the images are accurate likeness?
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DIRECT REALISM Mind-and-language independent
world.
DIRECT AWARENESS SELF-EVIDENT
The Object itself
The Idea
Our foundational beliefs rest upon direct access
to the real world objective truth
We see a thing for what it is we have the
capacity to recognize categorize. From many
observations we develop a concept of what that
thing is. We learn to associate a term with our
awareness of the object by use of senses The
object is indeed that kind of thing. We look to
confirm what we had already seen.
We each can compare the object that is given in
our experience with our concept (thought) of that
object to determine if they correspond. Thus, we
must pay very close attention to what is present
before our minds in experience. There is no need
to have indubitability to accurately identify or
know something.
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3 Kinds of Knowledge

• 1. Simple Seeing Knowledge by acquaintance.
  Thus, I have a direct awareness of object X
• It is not limited to sense perception we have
  conscience as well (e.g., natural, moral law).
• Simple seeing comes before the formulation of a
  concept.
• 2. Seeing as the formulation of a mental
  judgment. For example, seeing red on an apple
  formulates a concept of redness. The wording of
  something doesnt deny what X is.
• 3. Seeing that We have reasons for our belief
  it is justified true belief (eg., we are able to
  pick out a red apple from among other colored
  apples).

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Reality is undeniable
You cant know reality.
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1. Truth is discovered, not invented
2. Truth is transcultural.
3. Truth is unchanging though our beliefs
about truth change.
For example, I, Paul, feel cold sitting under a
fan on 8 September 2007.
4. Beliefs cannot change a fact not matter
how sincere someone is.
This may appear relative but it is actually
absolutely true for everyone, everywhere that
Paul had the sensation of coldness on that day.
5. Truth is not affected by the attitude of
the one professing it.
6. All truths are absolute truths. Even truths
that appear relative are absolute truths.
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How do I know? The Law of Non-Contradiction
Helps Us Discover What is False
Opposite ideas cannot both be true at the same
time and in the same sense.
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The Law of Non-Contradiction
They cant BOTH be true!
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Objections to Objective Truth

1. There is no such thing as truth!
2. You cant know truth!
3. All truth is relative!
4. Its true for you but not for me!
5. No one has the truth!
6. All truth depends on your perspective!

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Your Greatest Tool in Answering These Objections
Apply the claim to itself!
Example . . .
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Summary The Truth About Truth

• 1. Contrary beliefs are possible, but contrary
  truths are not possible.
• 2. You can believe everything is true, but
  everything cant be true.
• 3. Objective truth cant be denied without being
  affirmed.

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Everybody cares about the truth in almost every
area of life.

• Safety
• Money
• Medicine
• Warranties
• Relationships

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So What?
If we cant know truth as it is, then we might
find ourselves in a bit of trouble!