phil 339 response p1

Bonnie

DISCUSSION QUESTION CHOICE #2: Why Can’t Truth Be Relative? Explain in your own words why truth cannot be relative to meaning, knowledge, belief or opinion. How does this understanding of truth affect your everyday life? Explore these questions using your understanding of the readings, and with examples from your own experience and knowledge. Record your thinking process.

Truth cannot be relative to meaning, knowledge, belief or opinion, because truth is an assertion of meaning. Truth is what we know things to be.  Truth is " ... if the world is the way the claims say it is" (UMGC, How To Do Philosophy Well, n.d.).  For example, if we say Duke University is one of the top 50 colleges in the world most people would agree with the assertion based on knowledge they have heard regarding Duke, and the information that circulates about the college. Truth is the fundamentals of words that are in the proposition, or what is meant,  when stated in a sentence. The proposition is the primary rule of which something is based and known for being true. The most known way to determine a claim of something being true is to think about the reasons for clinging to it or tossing it aside. As we learn and grow from a young age, we learn to speak, we learn colors and shapes, we learn the difference between a car and a truck, we learn a plethora of things. Despite some things not being the way the world claims they should be, those things could still be true.  For example, speaking in an inappropriate way to other people. One may believe their word choice is proper based on the way the person was raised and language used in the household, but the world would claim certain word choices as being improper. So, what would make this true or false ... the fact that the proper way of speaking is more widely acceptable? The opinion would be subjective.

References:

University of Maryland Global Campus. (n.d.) How To Do Philosophy Well. Document posted in UMGC PHIL 336 online classroom, archived at https://learning.umgc.edu

Timothy

Regarding the value of Analytical Philosophy, Bertrand Russell argues that the fruits of philosophy cannot be compared to science through the physical goods it produces, nor the impact of these goods on the common-man. Instead, Russell concludes that philosophy’s value is the impact it has on the mind. While philosophy may not have the direct impact of the “hard sciences," philosophy produces indirect effects on the larger population by opening the philosophy student’s mind. In turn, this broadens the philosophy student’s conception of reality, leading to unique interactions and observations of the people and objects in their individual lives. Thus, philosophy produces a broader indirect effect, compared to the more tangible goods of scientific discovery.

Russell supports his belief in philosophy’s direct and indirect value by also evaluating the utility of uncertainty. In Russell’s view, the line between science and philosophy is distinguished by the answers produced by a set of given inquiries. Questions with uncertain answers are grouped into philosophy, while questions with unified answers create a specific discipline. In this way, philosophy exists as the precursor to the sciences, as uncertain inquiries must precede certain answers. Russell calls attention to Newton’s Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy as an example of unified philosophy establishing a specific discipline. The ability to inquire and investigate uncertainty leading to unified bases of knowledge, is the true value of philosophy, according to Russell.

Relating Russell’s views with my life experience, I do believe there is inherent value in philosophy. Investigating uncertainty in our lives allows us to examine our world from a different perspective. The ability to critically think never ceases to be useful in assessing our surroundings and our current life circumstances. As Russell says, this allows us to be free of the ”tyranny of custom.” By questioning the uncertainties in our everyday life, we can acquire unique knowledge, offering us new possibilities in how we lead our lives. Russell summarizes this view concisely at the end of The Value of Philosophy: “Philosophy is to be studied–for the sake of the questions themselves; because these questions enlarge our conception of what is possible, enrich our intellectual imagination and diminish the dogmatic assurance which closes the mind against speculation” (Russell).

Works Cited:

Russell, Bertrand. “The Value of Philosophy.” The Problems of Philosophy (1912), Chapter 15.