Truth and Relativsm

"Truth is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution." Albus Dumbledore

- J.K. Rowling 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'-

Though many may think differently, truth is a really complex and problematic term. It is a word used in daily basis in diverse contexts: it can be used to name the coherence between what it is said and what it is thought, as an adjective, as an undeniable preposition... During the last classes, we have been learning about this concept. 

There are three main types of truth: 

• Necessary Truths: they cannot be argued with.
• Analytic Prepositions: they predicate about and object contained in the subject.
• Synthetic Prepositions: predicate about concepts not included in the subject.

It is hard to know whether a truth is 'real' or not, and that is why it is a difficult topic to discuss. Before this class I used to think, just as ancient Greek philosophers, that there existed one universal truth, but we still had to find it. During the past classes, I have been thinking about it and I've realized that it is not possible. There is always the possibility of having more than one truth, as all humans think differently and have grown up in different environments and cultures. What I see as something true, could be a complete falsity for another person. There are many kinds of people living in this planet, and everyone of them has their own way of being and thinking. And because of this diversity of thought, there are many different truths; like in the case of the Bible and the Koran  does anyone of them contain the truth in its pages? Does only one of them include the truth? Are they both correct? We do not know. Every person can have his/her own ideas of life, and those will be their truths. Who are we to say which truths are correct? 

The idea of each person having his/her own truth is called relativism. It may be a really convenient idea, as it promotes the believe of everyone being different and about diversity. However, this idea is dangerous. If everyone had their own truth, then laws wouldn't apply to everyone, and people cold violate other person's not negotiable rights (the right to life, freedom in speech...). It is not a viable way of applying truth to our now a days society, it would destroy the order created by the law. Nevertheless, relativism does exist in terms of a country's law, depending on the culture they practice, they have different laws that fit with their own ideas about truth.

Truth is dangerous, in some cases, terrible, it can cause lots of harm if it is not treated with caution. By believing in relative truth, we can cause much harm to others. In order to avoid this, we should always have in mind the not negotiable rights of humans. No matter how relativist a person is or in what culture they grew up, truths that cause real harm to others cannot be accepted.