The Difference Between Truth And Belief

The Difference Between Truth And Belief The word truth can have a variety of meanings, from honesty and faith to a verified fact in particular.[1] The term has no single definition about which a majority of professional philosophers and scholars agree, and various theories of truth continue to be debated. There are differing claims on the roles that revealed and acquired knowledge play; and whether truth is subjective, objective, or absolute. Though truth is generally believed to be both subjective and objective, belief is assumed to be objective which means it differs from person to person. For example, I believe that the sky is blue entails that I think that this proposition is true. The ways by which we acquire knowledge, can be differentiated into four broad categories, sense perception, language, emotion and reasoning. The four ways of knowing help us to identify and differentiate between subjective and objective truths. It is generally assumed language gives us access to subjective truths while reason gives us access to objective truths. For example, the various mathematical proofs, theories and formulae that are in use today are in practice because of they have been proved by reason and are considered as objective mathematical truths. However, some theories and formulas are axiomatic truths. Axiomatic truths are self evident truths or basic facts which are accepted without any proof. On the contrary, perception and emotion are believed to result in subjective truths. From past experiences, I have generalized that objects left out in the rain get wet. Through reasoning I apply this understanding to tonights rainfall, and conclude that my own bicycle will get wet if it is left out in the backyard. Reason can help us to identify both subjective and objective truths. For example, reason can help to distinguish between objective mathematical truths and subjective artistic truths. Thus, from the above examples it can be seen that the various ways of knowing , alone can help to identify truths. But, the ways of knowing may also work together to give us the truth. For example, in science the way of knowing of reason and sense perception may work collaboratively to give us the objective truths. Some examples are objects falling on the ground with an acceleration of 9.8 m/s2. However, if reason helps us to identify and distinguish between objective mathematical truths such as the sum of the angles of a triangle is 180 and subjective artistic truths such as Beethovens 9th symphony is his best, it does not mean that reason is superior to the other ways of knowing because each of the ways of knowing has its own limitations and may not necessarily g ive us the absolute truth. The way of classical inductive reasoning can lead to false claims. Consider this example, I saw a duck and it was black. I saw a second duck and it was black. I saw a third duck and it was black. I saw an Nth duck and it was black. A general statement becomes the conclusion All ducks must be black. After tens of thousands of instances of black ducks in Africa, Asia and North America I go to the UK and see a white duck, right in the middle of a lake. One false instance is enough to topple over the general conclusion I had painstakingly reached. In the wake of the development in sciences and the extensive use of reason in daily life, a question is raised Is reason the most superior way of knowing?. Reason has give rise to many scientific explanations and theories such as the formulae of mathematics and the laws of physics. In the AOK of science, the various laws of gravity in physics have been defined after reason and research. For example, if I observe that the gravity is always same when I undertake an experiment, by inductive reasoning I will assume that this will always be the case if I measure gravity on any X place in the world. The general statement becomes the conclusion The acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/s2. But, if I were to conduct the same experiment at the North or the South pole I would find that the value of gravity is more than what I had found before, as the earth is elliptical and the poles are closer to the earths core. Also, the value of gravity would be quite different if I were to conduct the same experiment at the equatorial regions .Thus, as we can see, the reasoned assumption can sometimes lead to a paradigm shift i.e. true in specific environments so not a universal truth. Even if the experiment is conducted hundreds of times, there is always a possibility that an exception will be found and the theory would be falsified like in the case of the white duck. Thus, it is suggested that a hypothetical deductive method should be used, which is a continual interplay between deductive and inductive reasoning, mediated by testing done in the real world, whereby false hypotheses are discarded through trial and disproof. However, there is a possibility that somebody may stumble upon a case that falsifies the conclusion. The other knowledge issue raised is How far do our cultural beliefs distort our attempts to distinguish between subjective and objective theories?. For example, a recent case in India, where cultural beliefs are followed on a large extent, the idols of Lord Ganesha in temples all over the country were believed to be drinking milk from the offerings by visitors and followers. Thus, the subjective truth of all the followers was that the idol of Lord Ganesha was drinking milk. However, scientists conducted various experiments on the idols thereafter and came out with an objective explanation whereby the subjective truth of the followers was falsified. The rationalists and the scientists proved that the result was because of the surface tension and the absorption capabilities of the materials of which the idols were made .Thus, the cultural belief in India that the offerings by devotees are consumed by the god , gave rise to the subjective truth and distorted the objective truth. Also , another knowledge issue which is raised is How to do we get from our subjective beliefs to our objective truths ? . Darwins theory of evolution was based on his observations and is believed to be true especially by most of todays scientists. Darwins subjective belief in evolutionary theory was transformed into an objective truth. He proposed that all of the millions of species of organisms present today, including humans, evolved slowly over billions of years, from a common ancestor by way of natural selection  [1]  . However, certain counter-claims make us believe that the theory of evolution is false. According to the theory of natural selection birds could never evolve to fly  [2]  while this is certainly not the case. Though subjective beliefs can be and have been transformed into objective truths by repeated experimentation, it is possible that a single counter-claim could forge the conclusion and prove the theory to be wrong. The distinction between subjective and objective truths also raises the knowledge issue Is emotion an effective way of distinguishing between subjective and objective truths ? . For example, in Ethics we may use reason effectively to distinguish between the reasons why we should switch off a life-support machine on a family member and why we shouldnt, but reason may not take into account the emotional pressures we feel in the moment of flicking the switch, or emotion may even over-rule reason to some extent. The ongoing debate between subjective and objective truths also raises the knowledge issue Are there any absolutely certain objective truths independent of what we believe to be true? . This knowledge issue takes into account absolute truths. An absolute truth, sometimes called a universal truth, is an unalterable and permanent fact  [3]  . Many religions contain absolute truths. For example, a Christian might believe Lord Jesus to be his savior. To the Christian this may be an absolute truth. While many may agree that the Christian believes absolutely that Jesus is his Lord, they are unlikely to agree that Jesus is everyones Lord is an absolute truth. Centuries of missionary work is evidence of the human sense of infallibility in this area and is shown by the movie the mission in which a Spanish jesuist travels to the south American wilderness in the hope of converting the Indians into Christians . When a persons absolute truth is extended to all other people, it can be viewed as a philosophical statement of exclusion. Those who do not endorse the absolute truth of another are either pitied or attacked  [4]  and results in war and oppression. The method of the natural sciences involves perception as part of the collection of data to prove or disprove theories about the natural world for example , the development of the big bang theory by Edwin Hubble was based on his investigation of mysterious masses of stars called Nebulae. However, the problem is that a scientists observations may be limited by the instruments they use to make their observations. However, several of these theories are considered as absolute truths today inspite of what we believe. Again, Historians might provide primary sources to represent the absolute objective truth of the horrors of Stalins reign of terror, but the problem is this: how do we know that those sources havent been tampered with if Stalins regime was capable of doctoring evidence during his rule, isnt this even more rife in an age where everyone has access to Photoshop?

Han and Roman Dynasty View on Technology

After studying the provided documents (#1-8) its come to my understanding that both the Han and Roman empires thought of technology as useful and somewhat revolutionary, but both of them had somewhat different feelings of it. The Han dynasties attitude toward technology was that they thought it was very benefical, and they admired it. The reason this was because they though it to be very helpful in agriculture and construction purposes. Evidence of the positive effects of this can be seen in Document 4: History of the Early Han Dynasty which tells of a governer of Nanynay and as the very generous and loving person he was his policies also refelcted his personality. He had so much love for his people he wanted to lift weight of their shoulders and make their lives a little easier by inventing a water-powered blowing-engine which was enjoyed by eveyone adopted and spread his invention. The Roman empire however were not as positive about technology as the Hans. Even though they appreciated it to some extent the main viewpoint from the documents suggested that they thought of it was a bit demeaning also. Evidence can be found in Document 7, written by an upper-class Roman philospher and adviser which was saying that he did not believe that tools were created by â€Å"wise men† meaning a very developed mind, or someone who was thinking outside the box. He believe like the hammer for instance was created by a simple minded human, though its a very popular tool it was not advanced a tool as it could've been. Han and Romans both used technology for conservation and storage purposes of water in the environment. In Document 1 written by a Han goverment official. He wrote about the most efficent ways to ensure that flooding would be prevented. He thinks everyone should cooperate togther as a team, the high officals should patrol each side of the river and the common people should help in construction and repair. They welcome technology in this way because it will be saving the lives of people. In Document 8 written by a Roman general, governer of Britain, Frontinus, and water commissioner for city of Rome which basically brags about how great and sufficient their water system of distribution and compares it even to the great pyramids using the word ide meaning a waste of time, non functioning. By saying this you could imply how they looked down upon other structures that weren't their own, no matter how great. Saying that their construction is both useful and a marval and ts just something pretty to look at. The Roman empire and Han dynasty both needed technology to be able to help with their agricultural and structure building accuracy. In Document 6 written by Plutarch, Greek-born Roman citizen and high officals describe second-century B. C. E Roman political leader Gaius Gracchus, first century C. E. he is admired for his appliance[->0] of the condtion plan of the grace, beauty, detailed that he put into he design of the columns and the other monuments of Rome. In Document 3: New Discourses written by Hauan Tan an upper-class Han philopsher is saying how a mythological wise emperor Fuxi invented the pestle and mortar after it was imporved it thus notably increased the efficiency in China. These 2 documents show that technology was used profusely and was progressing. Document 2: written bu Huan Guan a han goverment offical, Discourses on Salt and Iron he describes how the salt and iron markets begin to manufacture backwards or useless tools. Previously these tools were quite excellent in quality but now that the state has monopolized the salt and iron trades most of the tools provided are hard to work with. This is a view by the Romans that demonsrtaes the more negative side of technlogy or how they were highly upset and unimpressed with the technology. In Document 5 written but Ciero and upper class political leader On Duty he finds that working in a workshop is not only degrading but he doesn't find it enlightening or in other words he thinks that it's useless. Ciero finds no use for technology, and that may be beacuse of his high placing in society he's not in touch with the world of craftsmen whatsoever so there is of course no use for it to him. Another example of a high class official having a negative view was in 7, like stated before Seneca believed that tools were useless he an adviser to Emperor Nero so that could be a reason why his views were different. The lower ranking people, or commoners can only use tools so that's why I believe that they were so grateful for the technology they were given ot provided with. The upper class people only use the finished poduct they don't know the importance of tools. The Roman and Han both found technoloy very useful and an everyday neccessary. Although the Han viewed the technology verey beneficial for their agriculture and praised the advanced tools and their inventors and well as their own work. The Romans only appreciated the product of technology and its design and craftmeship. Both civilizations technology was very imortant and helped to advance both that can still be seen in China today. [-;0] – /Dictionary/search? q=define+appliance=DTPDIA

The Role of Photography on Psyche and Behavior - 2405 Words

As photography captures moments, memories and references; psychologists have become interested in the role of photography on psyche and behaviour. Henkels interest leads to a study exploring influences of photography on memories of a museum tour, testing effects of viewing conditions on memory measures. Henkels (2013) study is designed to determine if photographing objects effects recall of object features and location. Participants were given a guided tour of a museum, and either observed or photographed objects. If photographs were zoomed, more details about the object and location were recalled compared to observation and photography; while photographing the object as a whole produced lower recall of detail and location than observation. The results suggest a photo-taking-impairment effect, and key difference between peoples and camera memory. The additional cognitive and attentional activity produced by focussing may null this effect. Reference to the role in episodic memory retr ieval photography plays is evident, while acknowledging dearth of research. Henkel (2013) acknowledges studies used passive camera event logging, with review increasing retention and cognition in neurologically impaired and healthy individuals (Berry et al., 2007; Loveday Conway, 2011). The author demonstrates studies of deliberate photography focus on organisational structure of time and events relative to autobiographical retention (Burt, Kemp, Conway, 2003, 2008; Kemp, Burt, Show MoreRelatedArt Is An Essential Part Of Life1338 Words   |  6 Pagesthe one she wishes to have the most. This beautiful painting makes me feel happy and sad simultaneously. It makes me happy because she chooses to have a family over else and sad because she appears to be alone and desperate for hope. Art plays a huge role in my life because it makes me think about important issues, things happening around me and does not leave me indifferent. 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Relationship Between Finance And The Real Economy

INTRODUCTION FINANCIALIZATION There is no consensus on how best to define financialization. Although the concept emerged within the Marxist tradition, there are conflicting views about the relationship between finance and the real economy. Baran and Sweezy (1966) explain that advanced capitalist states face a surplus absorption problem that inevitably leads to stagnation. To prevent the latter, unproductive consumption rises and the remaining surplus enters the sphere of circulation, particularly, financial activities. This is a stark contrast to Orthodox Marxists (cite), who explain the rise of finance as a consequence of the falling rate of profit in the sphere of production. The essential contention is that poor profitability in†¦show more content†¦Epstein (2001) defines financialization as follows: the importance of financial markets, financial motives, financial institutions and financial elites in the operation of the economy and its governing institutions, both at the national and international l evel. Since financialization was policy induced, a re-regulation of the financial sector was necessary to curb its excesses and increase employment and income (Crotty 2008, 2009; Crotty and Epstein 2008, 2009). Arrighi (1994) understood financialization as the last stage of the USA’s hegemonic power. As advanced capitalist states de-industrialize and lose their productive edge, the sphere of finance expands. After the collapse of Fordism, the Regulation School contends that financial markets became the new regime of regulation (Boyer 2000). Unlike Fordism, finance posed problems for employment, income and growth. Related to this tradition is the new corporate governance view, which argues that the main thrust of financialization is the preoccupation with shareholder value (Stockhammer 2006, Froud et al 2002, Williams 2000, Lazonick and O’ Sullivan 2000). This preoccupation leads to short termism through share buybacks that crowds out long-term real investments. Lapavitsas (2013) contends that the processes of finance should be analysed in their own right, rather than being treated as a surface phenomena sitting on top of real economic