CHAPTER 2 – TRUTH AND PHILOSOPHY

- Nowadays, it is, more and more difficult to

discern what is true from what is false.

- philosophy as a discipline will not claim to be

the sole bearer of truth.
- the philosophy is much of the way or process
by which we can distinguish claims that are
true form those that are false
Lesson 1 – The Domains of Truth

A man who lives away from his family

abroad has been in a state of coma,
sustained by life support from medical
equipment for about two months.
Doctors have told his friends that he has
very low chance of being revive if they
take away the life support from him.
 As per hospital regulations, it is only family
members who are allowed to consent of
pulling the plug. The man’s brother finally
arrived to give th consent. But something
strange happened, the moment the brother
started talking to the patient they noticed that
his vital signs stabilized. Days passed, the
patient shows rapid improvement. The doctor
was unable to explain what had happened.
 His friends says that it is because of the
1. prayer of the community
2. others say that the presence of his brother
had a healing effect on him.
3. Some doctors say that the medication must
have worked.

Today the man has fully survived his condition

and is normal as he can be.

WHAT DO YOU THINK TRULY HAPPENED?

 Analysis

- have you notice the differences in your

opinion about the situation?

- Who do you think among you is correct?

 ABSTRACTION

1. What is truth?
2. What do we mean when we say that
something is true?

- Life would be a lot simpler if truth meant only

one thing.
- life would have been a matter of simply
answering the question whether the things we
say, read about, and discuss are true or false.
- We often say something is true because it is
based on facts.
- when it is backed by data gathering, analysis,
and verification.
- when you pick up magazine or newspaper or
in social media there are arguments about
what is true.
- truth in a sense is related to science because
it is the field that delivers about natural world
(meaning the totality of the physical realm)
OBJECTIVE TRUTH
- They point to descriptions of “state of affairs”
which remain true regardless of who is viewing
them.
Ex. Truth about the water cycle
- Some scientist however, point out that the
scientific truth are part of just one among the
many ways of understanding truth.

- but not everyone is clearly aware of this.

- like the case of people who condemn others

for having a religion and for believing in GOD.

-people argue that believers base their lives

on unverified truths.
- Believers are judged to be irrational because
they cannot demonstrate the truth of their
faith.

- believers are irrational because they believe

in things that cannot be verified meaning only
those who believe in scientific truths are
rational

- if we agree with this reasoning then everyone

of us is irrational
- Because many parts of our lives rest on things
that we consider as true even if they are not
scientifically proven.

Ex. As we grow into the world, w believe that

some people love us even there is no scientific
basis for the truth of love.
To narrowly confine truth to the scientific way
of thinking is to claim that there is only ONE
way of understanding truth.

DOMAINS OF TRUTH
- according to Habermas that apart from the
scientific truths, there are other domains in life
in which we understand truth differently
1. Objective Domain of life
- this pertains to the natural world that
maintains a relative independence from the
perspective and attitude of human beings that
perceive them.

Ex. Typhoon season – belongs to natural realm.

It comes and goes whether we want it or not.
2. SOCIAL DOMAIN
- Truth is analogous with of a general
agreement or consensus on what is right as
opposed to what is wrong.

Ex. In a library for reading, we say that

maintaining silence is good. But in a basketball
game, we say that we should cheer for our
team as loudly as we can to keep them
motivated.
- The truths in the social domain are mostly
products of an agreement in society that has
been established over time.

- we have to be constantly aware that these

truths are “created” or constructed by people

- it can be changed through a critical

examination and deliberation among the
members of the community.
3. PERSONAL DOMAIN
- where truth is analogous with sincerity.
- our statement are consistent with with our
inner thoughts and intentions.
- truths that we claim needs corresponding
actions that will establish trust.
- a person who proves to be consistent with
what he declares about himself is regarded as
authentic and can be trusted/trustworthy.
Note of this:

when we ask “What is the truth?” it is

important to know from what domain you are
asking this question, so you will know in what
way we can test whether or not a claim is true.
TRUTH AND JUSTIFICATION

- Richard Rorty offers a simple way of defining

truth: truth can be understood as what has
passed “procedures of justification,”

-Justification – means the process of proving

the truth or validity of a statement.
In each domain of truth it has a
corresponding justification or has
different criteria for truth.

1. Scientific/objective domain
- truths are tested against empirical
evidence.
- A scientific statement is held as true
when it is justified by data gathering from
careful observation and analysis.

- Pharmaceutical companies convince

doctors and patients on the effectiveness
of their medicine by publishing research
findings examined and critically analyzed
by experts.
- Before a scientific journal gets published,
it goes through a rigorous review process
where experts raise critical questions that
the researchers should be prepared to
answer and defend with data.

- As soon as scientific claim is no longer

questioned or criticized, it more or less
gains the status of a scientific truth.
2. Social domain
- truths are tested against their
acceptability to a particular group in a
particular time in history

- The justification of social norms takes

longer than scientific truths.
- this is especially true when what is
involved in the process of justifying them
are people coming from varying history.
- Because of their differences in their
perspectives, it is not easy to get a
concencus or agreement. This is the
reason why social norms take time before
they are turned into hard laws.
- Social norms turned to social “truths” are
the basis for the balance in our society,
without them society will be no
different from a jungle in which only the
strong and powerful survive.
3. Personal Domain
- truths are tested against the
consistency and authenticity of the
person who claims.
- The justification of personal truth is
probably the longest to complete among
the three.
- this is because personal truths take a
whole lifetime of consistency in the
actions and decisions of a person who
makes a claim about himself.
Ex. When someone says, “I love you” to
his girlfriend, how would one know that
this is true. One action, 4 gifts, or a year
of dating her would not be enough.

- true love, as the adage goes, is tested by

time.
-
a boyfriend can be said to be insincere or
inauthentic when he only shows his love
for a few days, and acts differently after
he has been sexually satisfied.

- for this reason , believing on someone’s

sincerity takes years of hard work.
SUMMARY
Despite the many ways by which we can
understand truth, there is a common
definition among them of what truth is –
that it has surpassed its test of
justification.

-
 to answer the question what is truth?
We must first determine which domain of
truth the assertion belongs to, then apply
the corresponding criteria of justifying the
truth of such assertion.
To which domain of truth does each of
the following statements fall? Explain.

A. In sickness and in health, til death do

us part.
B. Reptiles are cold blooded.
C. “Don’t talk when your mouth is full.”
 Plot the main points of the domain on a
table.
1. One column should contain the three
domains of truth,
2. another column for examples to each
domain,
3. and a last column for the procedure of
justification for each domain.