Re: truth, meaning, done

Dewey Dykstra, Jr. (dykstrad who-is-at varney.idbsu.edu)
Sat, 20 Jan 1996 15:15:00 -0700

>I think we may have had enough on the perennial issue of
>meaning/reality,...

>'Truth' concerns a tiny subdomain of all this,
>and not one I think is worth all the trouble philosophers go to
>about it. There is very little in life about which it is
>meaningful to ask 'is it true?', but hardly anything about which
>we do not need to ask 'what can it mean?'

>One might even ask why truth has been made out to be so
>important, and what historically that has to do with modern
>rationalism, individualism vs communitarian values, capitalist
>political economy, and many other contemporary social
>determinants of philosophical discourse. But not today. JAY.
>
>
>JAY LEMKE.

I seems to me that generally "truth" is what is used to justify what we
think of, say about, and do to others or in spite of others. Objective
truth is appealed to because then "others" others cannot question it or
what we do in its name. If we have objective truth then we don't have to
understand why someone else does not agree and we do not have to get others
to understand or agree with us. We aren't responsible for it or our
actions in its name.

Dewey

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Dewey I. Dykstra, Jr. Phone: (208)385-3105
Professor of Physics Dept: (208)385-3775
Department of Physics/SN318 Fax: (208)385-4330
Boise State University dykstrad who-is-at varney.idbsu.edu
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Boise, ID 83725-1570 novice piper
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