Besware teen objektiewe waarheid (AFRIKAANS)

OBJECTIONS TO OBJECTIVE TRUTH:

Now, let us apply the laws of logic to the objections to objective truth

·         There is no truth:

If someone says, “There is no truth”, we must ask: Is that true?

If the claim “there is no truth” is true, then there is at least one truth. And if there is at least one truth, then the claim “there is no truth” is false.

·         All truth is relative:

When a person says all truth is relative it is the same as saying everyone has their own truth. Dr Frank Turek has a nice example to show the fallacy of this objection:

CLIP: Frank Turek Bank teller

We see this a lot in our culture. Proponents of feminism and particularly those supporting the LGBTQ movement are often encouraging one another to “live their truth”. The problem is, if all truth is relative then we must ask, is that true for everyone? If it is true for everyone then the statement that “all truth is relative” is false because if it is true for everyone then it is objectively true. Conversely, if the statement “all truth is relative” is false then it proves that, at least some truths are not relative; there are at least some objective truths. 

·         You can’t know truth:

Some people go as far as to say, that while there might be something akin to objective truth, no one can really know what truth is. So, they would object by saying “you can’t know truth”. To that objection we must simply ask: Is that true? Is it true that we can’t know truth? Because if it’s true that we can’t know truth then there is at least one truth that we can know (the statement that we can’t know truth). And if there is at least one truth that we can know then the statement “you can’t know truth” is false. 

·         There is no objective truth:

Some people might concede that there is truth, just not objective truth. They might say something like, “there is no objective truth”. This objection begs the question: Is that true for everyone? If “there is no objective truth” is true for everyone one, then “there is no objective truth” is an objective truth which, again, makes the statement false.

Listen to this clip from cloud atlas which gives us some insight into the nature of truth. 

CLIP: Cloud Atlas (Truth is singular)

One more claim:

·         Truth is only produced by science:

Many people believe only science gives us objective truths. To this we must ask: Is that a scientific truth? No, it’s not! You can’t prove that claim in a laboratory because it’s a philosophical claim.

When presented with objections like these, Christian apologists point out that saying there is no truth is like saying “I don’t speak a word of English”. You must use English to say, “I don’t speak a word in English”. The statement refutes itself.