Truth

[Meowzltov]

In your opinion is truth objective or subjective?

- Objective truth is generally defined as a statement that corresponds to reality, independent of personal feelings, opinions, or biases.
- Subjective truth is influenced by personal beliefs, feelings, or perspectives.

I think reality is objective. It exists the way it does regardless of our personal beliefs. It existed before life even began. There was a time when everyone believed the world was flat. It didn't make it so.

But if I stopped there, I would be leaving out so much that it would border on deceptive.

It is just as true that we can never know what that reality is. We can approach, but never arrive. We know our senses are imperfect, that optical illusions and hallucinations exist. We know that our perception is flawed, that we often misinterpret what we sense. Then add to that how incredibly irrational we are. We are plagued by cognitive biases that hardwired into our brains, cognitive biases that actually lead us to false conclusions. We are such irrational creatures that its a wonder we function as well as we do.

What that all means is that even among those of us with better than average reasoning skills, even if we are oh so careful and diligent in seeking out those areas where we are being irrational, it is inevitable that we are going to make mistakes, and many of them.

And that knowledge should keep all of us humble and tolerant.