The Concept of Truth in the Theory of Knowledge - Essay Example

13 September 2009 To what extent is truth different in mathematics, the arts and ethics? The concept of truth is one of the most complex and discussable issues in theory of knowledge. Three main disciplines, mathematics, the arts and ethics are all involve truth as the main criteria of their scientific nature and worthiness for people. For there is a sense of learning, both moral and otherwise, that is being ignored and that applies to the kinds of activities that narrative artworks and ethical values abet. It is this: that in mobilizing what people already know and what they can already feel, the truth can become an occasion to deepen our understanding of what people know and feel. Notably, a narrative can become an opportunity for people to deepen our grasp of the moral knowledge and emotions already at our command. In art, truth can be seen as values and principles communicated with the help of images and messages. Works of art not only communicate moral propositions, but that they provide justification for them as well. But this claim is subject to the well-known objection that, since most of the artworks that provide the best evidence for truth are fictions, it is hard to see how a fiction, by itself, could supply a warrant for whatever general moral claims it advances. Since a fiction concerns particulars, it is not clear how one could find in it an adequate evidential basis for a generalization. Indeed, since fictions are made up, it does not seem that they provide any real evidence for the generalizations that they suggest. And finally, since authors make up the particular cases they narrate often in order to advance the moral generalizations in question, whatever evidence they proffer would appear to be question-begging, if not tainted (Shapiro & Wainwright 41). So, it is better to understand truth as the doctrine that certain artworks suggest, imply, entail, and/or presuppose moral beliefs, rather than knowledge. These beliefs may then be regarded as hypotheses to check against the world. But it is the world and not the work that warrants or justifies the beliefs found in art. The artworks do not provide knowledge in and of themselves. The audience and the characters are both horrified by the image of the monster, which is fearsome and disgusting. The audience would be horrified by it on its own, even if there were no character shown reacting to the monster, as is often the case in horror films. Too often the propositions purportedly disclosed by narrative artworks and representations are such commonplaces that the hypothesis that people learn from such texts seems disingenuous and strained, since most of the moral beliefs that people might be said to acquire from art are things people know and which, in fact, they must bring to the text in order to understand it (Lemos 159). In mathematics, truth is a part of rational choices and established principles reflected in numbers and calculations. One of the most important that Aristotle left on the mathematics and physics was the search for “causes.” Aristotle stated that any object whatever it is animal, plant, or inanimate has four attributes: 1) Matter, 2) Form, 3) Moving cause, and 4) Final cause. Aristotle explained the following example, in order to illustrate the meaning of the cause. Lemos (161) stated that by applying the four cause on the table you will find the following results. The matter is wood, the form is the shape, the moving cause is the carpenter and the final cause is the reason the table was made in the first place, for a family to eat (Lewis 89). Another example is the man, he considerate the matter was provided by the mother, the form was a balanced two-legged animal, the moving cause was the father and the final cause was to become a completely grown human being. Although, Aristotle did not believe nature to be wide-awake, he believed this final cause to be by some means inborn in a human being, and likewise in other organisms. In the modern time, the theory of the cause by Aristotle, was very useful and essential for many development in the modern physics, and for understanding the surrounding atmosphere. Mathematics is much deeper than simply dealing with numbers; it is not only a computation process. This science is connected with studying patterns, considering relationships between entities. It is a science and a way of thinking. It is an art which has characteristics of order and self-consistency. The mathematical language uses strict terminology and symbols to define its entities. And mathematics is also a tool for cognition of the world around us but again from the perspective of the ideal form of this world and our perception of this world. So, if numbers are contemplated in the context of mathematics, they represent only one branch of this science – arithmetic. This branch namely involves the techniques which are used to calculate numbers. And while mathematics is not just arithmetic but a collection of a variety of fields, in which theorems are first discovered and then proved, and these fields are used to develop new methods to calculate or construct, it is possible to state the following. Mathematics is both science and art, because it creates a system of knowledge about shapes, numbers, as well as other entities being abstract and helps to gain knowledge concerning the world (as a science). It also makes up a system of abilities and skills which people use to calculate (as an art). With the help of mathematics as an art many aspects of our life have been created and explained, while with its help as a science a lot has been learnt. Also, with the help of mathematics, people are able to communicate and exchange their ideas as well as challenge everything they have already found out. As it has been described in this paper, mathematics is applied in many fields, and with its help not only physics, Also, other sciences have developed to the state they are nowadays (Lemos 160). In ethics, truth can be seen as an agreed number of principles established and followed by members of a community. The main problem is that each community and social group have different moral and ethical principles, so truth is relative. Thus, the proponent of the simple theory of identification explains the relation of art to morality as a matter of moral education -- a process by which artworks invest spectators with moral ideas, outlooks, and emotions by inducing them to identify with actors playing characters who hold the relevant moral ideas and outlooks and who exhibit the emotional states in question. This is not to deny that the audience may share certain values with characters, or even that our sharing of these values shapes our response to the relevant characters. Perhaps, most often, people tend to develop care and concern for characters with whom we share certain values, including, most notably, moral values. Sharing the same values need not be explained by a process as arcane as identification. In everyday talk, the notion of identification is often used to say that a person likes certain moral principles. Clearly the notion of identification has no explanatory payload here. People may like some ethical rules and dislike others. Moreover, this kind of differential response is a condition of possibility for most dramas as people know them. It is the basis of what is called dramatic conflict of values. One cannot use the notion of identification to say why people like some moral principles rather than others, since identification, in this usage, is synonymous with liking (Shapiro & Wainwright 77). In sum, the notion of truth is relative and very subjective as it reflects historical traditions of social organization and theory of science. Still, it is possible say that mathematics possesses universal truth accepted and followed by all people, while art and ethics reflect individual truth typical for some communities or individuals. That is why, ethics enforcement is not only morally questionable, but can lead to its manipulation for the realization of the objectives. Works Cited Lemos, N. An introduction to the Theory of Knowledge. Cambridge University Press, 2007. Print. Shapiro, Stewart & Wainwright, William J. The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Mathematics and Logic. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Print. Read More