by Joan Inong

Created on: March 05, 2009   Last Updated: January 01, 2010

According to John Stuart Mill, "There is no such thing as absolute certainty." This phrase is part of the inspiration for his book "On Liberty" and has been applied, at least in America, to the concept of free speech and press. The quest to finding truth, any kind of truth, is never an easy one. The word "truth" itself holds a different meaning for different people, making it even more difficult to create a general truth, unless supported by evidence. A "truth" may simply be an idea that is guarded heavily, whether by tradition or morals, so as to keep it as a "truth." On the other hand, what Mill suggests, and what may be most important in finding truth, is that everything must be questioned and must be challenged. This is, as he puts it, "the amount of certainty attainable by a fallible being."

If we began to question everything, it would appear as though civilization's falsehoods would be revealed. Is this not true, when speaking about languages? Can I call something a chair, while a Frenchman calls that same object "la chaise"? Which of these terms is true? And, can we reveal which is the true origin of mankind: evolution or intelligent design?

Mill assures us that our quest for truth is, most often than not, handicapped. As a society and as a species, we are constantly forced to gobble up so-called truths that are fed to us by the shovelful. We cannot accept something as truth because tradition says so. When this happens, we often do more damage to ourselves. We enslave each other: for hundreds of years, those who were pro-slavery advocated a "tradition" that meant, to them, the bringing about of a better condition for those they saw as inferior. They cited the Bible as their primary source; they quoted the story of Noah and the curse of Ham and the Canaanites. The truth was that there was no right to slavery; but the "truth" told by those blinded with false tradition contaminated centuries and wasted many lives.

Finding truth, if truth is ever found, is encouraged by constant, productive, engaging debates. When, for instance, corporations exist that have higher priorities than the environment, those who do keep the environment as a high priority are forced to find better ways to cope with the actions of those corporations. In short, they create forms of "truth;" we have hybrid cars, we use hydrogen to fuel them, we build wind turbines and solar panels, and we try to save the Earth from imminent destruction that we are accelerating. The consequence of these productive debates is a better world in which we find many kinds of beneficial truths.

Most importantly, "truth" is such a subjective term whose definition changes from person to person. Environment, religion (or non-religion), family dynamics, experiences - these all shape each person's definition of "truth," and perhaps it may just be impossible to find the most true truth of them all. However, the journey to finding those beneficial truths should not be riddled with man-made limitations and obstacles. For, what creature has been intelligent enough to conceive of a life in search of "truth"?

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