Re: [ontolog-forum] {Disarmed} Reality and Truth

[paola.dimaio@xxxxxxxxx]

Dear Ken

thanks for your useful analysis, I particularly agree with some of your statements and some comments below

 

Truth (like falseness) is a quality of a statement or assertion about reality - based on a mental construct or model of reality, which is the only possible basis for an assertion (using language or symbols, which is based on concepts, which are mental representations).

I like this description of truth. So what you are saying is that 'absolute truth' does not exist,
only a relative value based on its assertion? are you saying that truth does not exist if it is not asserted as such, ie not expressed with language or symbol?

if so, can the same be said of reality? Ie, that reality is defined by the point of view of its observer?

 

Reality simply IS.

Tat Sat in Sanskrit.(what is=absolute truth)

 But  we have to define  reality for some practical purpose, like writing a chapter , or giving a lecture or designing a system etc.  'what is' must be defined a bit more narrowly

Statements about it, and the concepts associated with them, are true or false (or somewhere between, if we allow for fuzzy logic).

I agree that in general terms, making statements about reality can become highly speculative. However my statement 'reality is what is true' is indeed related to the need to make a declaration about a system. whithin the system what is true should be modelled
In an ontology, when something is true is part of the reality and should not be ignored

A mental representation of reality will NEVER be in full one-to-one correspondence with reality, so it can never encompass all possible truths that could be asserted. But a statement of supposed fact can be considered to have a truth value (not necessarily completely true or false, if one allows fuzzy logic).

yes, thats what I mean

The question of whether the representations must be consciously perceived or only phenomenologically functional takes the question to another level. Animals respond on the basis of representations of reality in their brains that could be said to have a level of truth or falseness - in fact, representations that have meaningful falseness would be selected against.

This is the next interesting point. Our ability to perceive  determines what we  consider true or false,

 Given the great complexity of the world and our brains, we inevitably maintain some false representations - sometimes they'll be corrected as we learn. Learning or development of our brains can also extend the scope of our representation of reality - increasing the scope of "truth" that can be considered to be in our brains - and sometimes also the scope of falseness, insofar as the representations incorrectly represent the reality.

Yes. I dont think human brain is designed to grasp absolute truth in its completeness, as our physical and neurological constraints allow us only to process a given number of signals, thus showing that we can only see part of the picture at any given time

Another level could be considered to be in societal-level representations - such as how organizations collectively represent and respond to the reality they deal with.

yes


cheers

PDM

Ken

 

Kenneth Cliffer, Ph.D.

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Paola Di Maio****


Lecturer and Researcher
School of Information Technology
Mae Fah Luang University
Chiang Rai
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