Introduction to Philosophy SSN1

“Seekers of Truth”

A Reflection Paper

Truth has always been discussed in the fields of philosophy and is a concept that is
actually more complicated than it seems. It has been a fragment of reality that is usually
based upon things such as experiences, observations, research, and investigations.
This allows one to seek for the truth despite it being a very vast concept. Eventually,
truth has greatly improved the society to what it is today and it deems to be a very
significant concept in many disciplines of work. From the animation video of the Blind
Men and the Elephant, truth has been connoted as a concept that can be achieved
through a collection of sensory experiences and facts approved by most people. As the
story progresses, each man created a certain definition of what an elephant is based on
resources that they can rely on: their sense of touch. All of them gave descriptions that
were based on things they have touched or experienced before. They tried to use
similes to create comparisons between the following: an elephant’s ear with a fan, its tail
with a rope, its tusk with a spear, its body with a wall, its nose with a snake, and its knee
with a tree. By the end of the video, all of them were arguing and the Raja shows up
and asks them how were they certain if they were right. Truthfully, one question that left
me pondering was if this is how people decide on which is true and which is not. This is
how seeking for the truth is actually very complicated.

In my opinion, truth is something that we seek for the improvement of the society yet it
is highly negotiable. Although knowing the truth requires a lot to take in, we do not want
to believe in lies that goes against our pride as humans. Each of us has a certain
perspective that we want to share yet we do not know which ones are correct. That is
why we continue to argue to find out which is reality and which is not. This leads to a
collaborative effort to know the truth. In the video, limitations and boundaries were
highly emphasized as it removed the sense of sight of the characters. Seeing is one tool
for seeking reality especially when it used for observations. Without the sense of sight,
are these men really reliable enough of giving information? Despite the limitation, they
tried their best in looking for the perfect description of an elephant. Viewing it at a bigger
scale, this situation is usually experienced in the fields of research. There is always a
need to identify the scope and delimitations of the research to make it more feasible and
to accept any mistakes in the possible future as change is possible. We may have been
relying on a truth that is only true if certain factors are present, however, it may become
false in the future or in the next. That is why research always bases itself on a small
margin of error. Limitations for seeking the truth are always present and errors are to be
identified. In such cases, truth cannot be absolute as we accept the fact that there are
changes happening in the society. In the case of the blind men, they were only studying
one elephant, and its specific parts. How about the other types of elephants? By this
perspective, truth is not easy to achieve because of these limitations.

By the end of the video, the Raja suggested to collect each of their descriptions and put
them all together. Since the elephant is a vast creature, you cannot just simply judge it
by one part only. This entails us to look for a much more vast “truth”, instead of being
satisfied of small fragments of it. As humans, we serve to seek the truth and hopefully,
not bend it. The world at present cannot know the absolute truth, but we should be able
to strive for it if we are responsible for it. Even though there are different standards for
truth, it is up to us whether we should believe on a certain principle or not. This strong
conviction allows us to continue life to the fullest. The battle of wits that inspires us to
keep on going despite all the limitations that surround us. We are seekers of truth.