Context and Truth Issues - Essay Example

'Context is alldoes that means there is no Truth' The two terms 'context' and 'truth' have been the topic of debate to many intellectuals. They have meant many a times similar to people, but a lot more are able to use them as two separate words. The question is what actually the distinguishing factor is to be highlighted. Truth is defined as the act of being honest, trustworthy, absolute and/or in reality (Poiman, 2005). The term may be defined in a lot of other different ways however it is a concept to be understood and not a definition to be learned. Context on the other hand forms up the basis of what one actually says, writes or communicates using any medium. It's also the interconnected circumstances in which something exists or happens. It has a major role to play in the sense that it can be as powerful as completely changing the meaning of the said or written to something totally opposite of what the original had been. Context can be categorized into several demographic classes; be it social or political. The thought is that context influences the means we comprehend the term. The truth in its actual meanings is the level of meaningfulness, fact relation, confirmation and level of sincerity. Wherever the 'truth' comes in, the result is either one will staunchly agree to it and will consider it a sin to question or challenge its credibility. But with the evident of the truth, there is also uproar by those who are doubtful about its existence. Either they completely reject the truth or they begin look for answers which makes them believe in that truth. A lot people argue on the truthfulness of something. What actually they are doing is that they are trying to match their desired answers with the ones they already have. This is merely in pursuit of getting ones' self correct in front of others. After all its human nature that one finds it difficult to accept failure. So to maintain one's self respect, to continue to feed one's ego and to fulfill the urge of being superior to others makes one argue on the truthfulness of something. Thus in this case the truth turns out to be something overloaded with certain facts that might have been related to the topic by someone in such a technical way that it looks as the truth in front of the claims placed by others (Taylor, 1998). This is a good way engineering any sort of communication to benefit ones' self and create a wining situation against the competing claims of anyone else. But during this competing what happens is that either the truth becomes distorted or it completely loses its originality. You can understand it by this that consider the truth to an elephant and you ask seven blind men, to touch and feel the elephant and then describe what an elephant looks like. The result will be that each of the seven blind men will think that only he knows what an elephant looks like and thus, only he knows what the truth is. To justify the existence of truth, another approach may be of finding out the best possible answer(s)! Many people will agree on this point. The fact, that though a lot of people know that what is the truth and are having its full availability and awareness. But still these people are in a constant search of truth, is based on the concept of finding what is best. People are in constant search of truth because knowing the truth about life, this world or this universe can give them satisfaction. It can help them in understanding themselves better. Its can help people become productive. It can help us to solve problems that we face in every phase of our life. Extending on the saying "survival of the fittest", the rule is very much applicable to the "Truth" as well. The truth therefore may be also based on an entity's nature, a certain phenomena or even someone else's experiences. This yields truth to be subjective to different aspects. However, this is not the actual case. The truth of any n' every thing is its correctness which can neither be judged by mere proofs nor can be measured on some scale. It is not the truth that prevails in this world of people; people who belong to different cast, color, creeds, cultures, languages, history, and religions. Everyone is very likely to have his/her own belief about most of the things. Strictly speaking, these beliefs might possibly be very different from that of each other. Everyone has his own eye for looking at the truth. Everyone has their own vision and philosophy towards the acceptance of a certain truth. For some people, they believe in only what they see with their own eyes. While for others, the case maybe different, they are ready to believe in everything they hear and don't consider it important to see everything from their own eyes and then believe it. The truth based on the above factors would be different for different people according to their beliefs and therefore can't be challenged. The problem in interpreting truth is enlarged when switching languages. Here, the abstraction of the words, which can not be defined in its very same tone while translating into some other language totally changes the context of what was actually said or written from what was actually meant by it. But what can completely change the meaning and perception of truth is when the culture is switched. Each culture has its own beliefs, values and norms. What maybe right in one culture, maybe wrong in the other culture. Same is the case with the truth. It maybe considered as important in one culture, while some other culture may not agree to it. Take the example of Aztecs. Their context may have led them to act in the manner they did. But the truth is that for people like you and me, their acts justify their barbarism. This is a subjective truth - how I value the sanctity of human life and how an Aztec values human life. Accepting that truth exists is based on how people perceive things. Truth is not only subjective. It does not limit it self to emotions, beliefs and thoughts. It's not only a state of mind. To believe in truth doesn't mean that one is ignoring logic. Truth is also objective (Frankfurt, 2006). Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. Its objective, it's a scientific fact but it is also the truth. Hence, truth is not confined to a person who has faith in God's existence or to a mother who feels love and compassion towards her child. Truth is also reflected in the logic of a mathematician and in the proven hypothesis of a scientist. While truth that is objective is ultimate and standing. In contrast to it, a truth that is subjective is changing and ongoing. One can say that the truth of one's survival is an existing, concealed, and personal experience (Armstrong, 2004). It's an attribute of life that it is always in the course of becoming better and better. The principles, ethics, and practices a person agrees to, while not rejecting the reality of objective truths of those values, can only grow to be justly identified when they have been silently believed right through subjective skill, knowledge and practice. As said before that truth can be distorted, the human mind can also perceive the context inappropriately (Alston, 1996). The background behind why people say something or why do they act in a particular manner, it can be different for everyone. Why someone uses foul language or why someone grows up to be a criminal - this all is dependant on various factors (Duran, 1967). A person's environment, trains him. Behaviors are always learnt and acquired, with genes playing insignificant role. An adolescent's societal context is broader and more multifaceted than that of the infant and the child. The most prominent social experience of teenage years is the appearance of the clear importance of peers. The teenager comes to rely a lot on the peer group for support, identity, and assistance during a time when such things are urgently needed. The same teenager who enjoys spending time with his peers, if is asked to spend more time with the family, then he will be unable to feel and response in the same way he does with his friends. The truth here is that the teenager behaves differently, in different social and demographic groups. But behavior is a resultant of the social context. The term context can be further understood by this example. How we perceive the effects that of brightness contrast, the visible glow of a stimulus is dependable not only on its own luminance but also on that of the adjacent stimuli. Place a grey square against a dark background and it looks whiter. While place the similar grey square against a brighter background and it will look blacker. What therefore is the proper basis on which we can decide how the said, written or even the spoken words, symbols, ideas and/or beliefs may properly be said to constitute truth; whether for a single person or even an entire community or a society, are among the many questions that have been addressed by the many theorists throughout history. Works Cited 1. P. Poiman Louis. Philosophy: The Quest for Truth. Oxford University Press, USA. 2005. 2. Duran William. Story of Philosophy. Amazon Remainders Account, 1967. 3. Taylor Kenneth. Truth and Meaning: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Language. Wiley-Blackwell, 1998. 4. G. Frankfurt Harry. On Truth. Knopf, 2006. 5. Armstrong D. M. Truth and Truthmakers. Cambridge University Press, 2004. 6. P. Alston William. A Realist Conception of Truth. Cornell University Press, 1996. Read More