Meaning, Truth and Purpose Flashcards
example of knowing:
-knowing people believe in God
example of believing:
- believe in God
- believing in supernatural things
example of believing and knowing:
- some people might know something is right e.g. religion or you might believe that religion is right
- how the world was created
What is the difference between knowing and believing?
Knowing is when you know something since there is proof and factual evidence behind it. Believing is when you think something is true but it doesn’t have any proof.
What makes us believe what we do?
- our environment and surroundings
- how we’re brought up
- peers/guardian(s)
- culture
- religion
- media
- government
- laws and law makers
- instinct(how you react in a certain situation)
why photographs are good evidence:
- can show time date and location
- shows a lot of detail about something and is hard to fake as well
- shows a moment in time
- supports other evidence
why photographs are weak evidence:
- it could be photoshopped an edited
- quality of image could be poor
why videos are good evidence:
- stronger than photographs
- shows a lot of detail
- includes sound and visual elements
- very hard to fake
why videos are weak evidence:
- it could be edited
- video could be reenacted
why eye-witness accounts are good evidence:
- they were there
- first hand
why eye-witness accounts are weak evidence:
- the witnesses could lie, mishear something or not see something clearly
- difference in perspective
- exaggerated
why newspaper reports are good evidence:
- state facts unknown to the public
- ease of access
- combined evidence of photographs and eye-witness accounts
why newspaper reports are weak evidence:
- the report could be based on who wrote it
- sense of celebrity
- may be misinformed
scientific truths:
These are facts we can prove using evidence. I could perform a test to find this evidence.
historic truths:
These are facts about things that have happened in the past. They can sometimes be supported by evidence. But it is important to be entirely certain of them.
personal truths:
These are truths than I can choose to accept. I cannot provide evidence for them.
moral truths:
These are truths about right and wrong.
subjective truth and examples
They are true and other people don’t need to agree with them to make them true.
e.g. chocolate is nice
objective truth and examples
These need to be agreed upon by everyone else.
e.g. the sky is blue
Is there a certainty that any truths will stay the same?
no
what type of truth is the least reliable?
A personal truth is the least reliable as it is subjective to you and different from person to person.
What type of truth has the biggest impact?
I think a personal truth has the biggest impact on an individuals life as it is subjective to one person and will affect only their decisions and choices.
Plato and the cave story
Prisoners spent their entire lives chained deep inside a cave. They were chained so that they couldn’t see behind themselves. Forced to stare at the cave wall. Behind them is a fire and between them and the fire is a raised walkway. Each day objects e.g. animals, people, carts etc. cross the walkway. The prisoners see the shadows on the cave wall. A prisoner is released and experiences the outside worlds. The free’d prisoner returns to his friends. Prisoners can’t recognise him and only see his shadow and his distorted voice. The prisoners can’t understand his stories of the outside world. To them it will never exist.
How might the prisoners feel when the free’d prisoner returns?
-confused as they couldn’t recognise him and the free’d prisoner appears as unreal as they cannot even comprehend what his friend is saying as it is like trying to describe the colour green to someone who has never seen green
How does the free’d prisoner feel when he ventures into the outside world?
- amazed
- enlightened
- overwhelmed as he may realise that his truth of the shadows was not true
How does the free’d prisoner feel when he’s going back into the cave?
excited to tell his friends about the outside world
What does Plato think about the truth we can arrive at using our senses?
Plato thought that we’re all just like prisoners. We think we know what’s real and we think we know that world around us is the whole story. However, we are tried by our senses to think this world is real.
Instead, he suggests that we should be like the escaped prisoner and work hard to understand what real and whats important in life. Plato believed that the true reality is not reached through our senses.
It’s better to live in a cave and be happy that wonder what else might be out there. Do you agree? Why?
It is not better to live in a cave and not wonder what might be in the outside world as although people may find safety and security in staying in a cave and being happy I think that ultimately it would be better to find out the truth rather than trust our senses which might not even be accurate.
see/hear/feel things that aren’t real:
- hallucinations
- optical illusions
- dreams
- mirages
- sleep
- in a state of panic or fear
- injected with morphine
- virtual reality
- reflections
- photoshop
- pins and needles
- lucid dreams: where you can control your dream
why should you trust your senses?
-it’s all that you’ve got to go on
Who was Descartes?
- philosopher
- he said that when he views a stick in water it appears to be bent. He realised that our senses can lie to us and that we shouldn’t trust them as a way to know things about the world
The Film Interception
- a thief who possesses the power to enter the dreams of other
- by projecting himself deep into the dreams of targets, he steals their ideas and makes money from them
Descarte Views
- doubted everything
- aim was to find things we can be 100% certain of
- noticed that senses deceive us
- wondered if all our reality might be just one big dream
- ‘I think therefore I am’ = ‘Cogito ergo sum’
- one thing he could be sure of was that he was thinking
How sure are your perceptions of the world are real?
Im fairly unsure because we could just be brains in a jar.
