by Chris Kling

Created on: March 10, 2008

Is there such a thing as "absolute truth"? Or is "truth" more akin to "temperature"? With "temperature", there is always one degree hotter or one degree colder. Will we always be faced with the relativistic view that there are gradients of truth? Will there always be something that is one degree truer, and one degree falser?

In my mind, I like the idea of finite truth.

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, German poet, novelist and dramatist once wrote, "It is easier to perceive error than to find truth, for the former lies on the surface and is easily seen, while the latter lies in the depth, where few are willing to search for it."

In today's world, we are faced with the "moral relativism" philosophy, which Wikipedia defines as "the position that moral or ethical propositions do not reflect objective and/or universal moral truths, but instead make claims relative to social, cultural, historical or personal circumstances. Moral relativists hold that no universal standard exists by which to access an ethical proposition's truth".

In my mind, these moral relativists are those who Goethe identified as the "unwilling" to search for the truth. In my mind, these relativists are those who, in their laziness, would rather invent a truth than live their lives according to absolute truths because in most cases, "absolute truth" essentially indicates the belief in God and in His laws.

While it's been said by some rather unscrupulous types that "truth is in the eye of the beholder", I think it can be argued quite successfully that there are indeed, absolute truths.

Would you agree with me that it is unequivocally an absolute truth that I am currently breathing while I'm entering these words and my argument onto the Helium website? Isn't it also inarguable that I am seeing the words on my monitor with my eyes while I'm inputting the data, and that you are seeing them as you read them? These are truths, are they not? Absolutely.

"Oh, sure", you say, "but that's not answering the 'bigger' issues behind the question!"

If you were to say that to me, I would have to postulate that you were, absolutely, speaking an untruth. For if your argument is "there is no such thing as absolute truth", then any example of an absolute truth would absolutely prove your claim false.

If you're tempted to argue that "You STILL aren't answering the 'bigger' issue", then I would have to pull out my big guns.

For instance: Is there any circumstance at all whatsoever where you personally believe that a brutal rape and murder is justifiable?

"Of course not!" should be your reply, right? (If not, go see a mental health professional.)

But if you are righteously indignant at my question, does that not imply that there is some intrinsic, deep-seated, inbred understanding that it will always be truthful to say that brutal rapes are wrong?

But what is there about that scenario that proves that there is "absolute truth"? The answer to this question lay in the difference between "good" and "evil". Because ultimately, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said nearly a half a century ago, "the truth will set you free".

Learn more about this author, Chris Kling.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.