Truth and Logic

To understand truth, we must understand logic, because truth is based upon logic. Most people might argue that truth is based upon the proof, which may be true depending on your interpretations of the word "proof" and of the word "truth."

For example, it is perfectly logical to assume the chair you are sitting in exists. Why? Experience. You see the chair, feel the chair, and possibly, if you so choose to, taste the chair. When you sit down, your weight is supported. You can throw the chair at someone, and it will probably hurt that person. But can we prove that chair is there?


Again, this is based upon what you believe proof really is. You may base it on experience: "I feel the chair, it concurs with my expectations of the chair, so that is proof that it exists." But can we really take that experience and really know that it is "proof". Is proof really the same as logic?

In my opinion, it is not. I believe proof to be an irrefutable fact, not based on evidence. It is just so. So, according according to my interpretation of proof, it is impossible in this day and age for a human to "prove proof."

Our experience tells us that the chair exists. Yet, how do we know that it is not an illusion. We may all be hallucinating, or dreaming our experiences. Our evidence of our conclusion may all be an illusion. If this is so, can we really prove 100% that it does in fact exist?

Truth, in my opinion, is a loosely defined term. Truth is relative. We take our experiences, make assumptions, and turn those conclusions into our "truth". Since most of us undergo similar experiences, many universal truths are formed: "the sky is blue, paper cuts hurt, water is wet."

However, each of us has experiences that are not similar to other's experiences. These can be small or insignificant differences: "pizza tastes good/bad, books are interesting/boring,etc." They can also be large or deep opinions: "God is a supreme being/doesn't exist, Communism is wrong/right,etc." Thousands of different experiences allow truth to vary from person to person.

Obviously, these terms have different meaning when looking at statistics. It is generally a good idea to accept these facts as "proof" when looking at something statistically (obvious the philosophic opinions based on these figures is allowed room for interpretation. The "proof" does not establish any other truth besides the fact that these were the outcomes of the survey).

So, when arguing whether your opinion is "true" or not, remember that the person on the other side may have underwent different experiences.