Truth &

Philosophy
“ The Truth. “Dumbledore
sighed. “ It’s a beautiful and
terrible thing and should
therefore be treated with great
caution.”
- J. K Rowling
The Domain of Truth
What is Truth????
What do we mean when
we say that something is
true?
Many of us assume that truth is a
simpler term with singular meaning.
Life in this world would be a lot
simpleir if truth only meant one thing.
Life would have been a matter of
simply answering the question
whether the thing we say, read about
and discuss are true and false.
 If we examine the perspective on truth that has
been dominant in society, we would find that
people mostly equate truth with scientific truth.
We often say that something is true because it is
based on facts. Furthermore , we say that
something is factual if its scientifically proven.
That is when it is backed by data gathering
analysis and repeated verification.
Jurgen Habermas argues in his
universal pragmatics or the study of
structure of communicative language as
we use it everyday. That apart from the
scientific truths there are other
domains in life in which we understand
differently.
 Three Domain of Truths
Objective Domain – this pertains to the natural
world that maintains a relative independence from
the perspective and attitude of human beings that
perceived them.
Example: Typhoon season which belong to natural
realm, comes and goes whether or not we want it.
SocialDomain – in this domain “Truth” is
analogous with (not the exact equivalent ) of general
agreement or consensus on what is right as opposed
to what is wrong.
Example: In a chapel for prayer meditation we say
that maintaining silence is good, But in a basketball
game, we say that we should cheer for our team as
ludly as we can so we can keep them motivated.
We do not look at his too different
situations as contradicting each other.
We understand that some things are
“true” or good in a particular context
while they are false or wrong in
another context.
Personal Domain – Where “truth” is analogous with
“sincerity”, When you say to another person “ I am telling
the truth” what you usually mean by that statement is that
our statements are consistent with our inner thoughts and
intentions. This is a precarious domain of truth because no
one can have access to our minds and our thoughts except
our selves.
Authentic – a person who proves to be consistent with what
he declares about himself and he/she is the person that can
be trusted/ trustworthy.
 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.
 Each domains of truth has a corresponding
justification or has different criteria for truth.
In the scientific /objective domain – truths are tested
against empirical evidence
In the social domain – truths ar tested against their
acceptability to a particular group in a particular time
in history
In personal Domain – truth are tested against the
consistency and authenticity pf the person who
claims it.
The justification of personal truth is probably
the longest to complete among the three. This
is because personal truth taka a whole lifetime
pf consistency in the actions and decisions of a
person who makes a claim about himself.

Example: Saying I Love You………

 Seat Up Question
Death penalty is acceptable in some
countries while it is forbidden in others.
How do you explain the differences in
acceptability of death penalty?
Why do some groups / cultures allow it
while others do not?
 Truth and Opinion
“ All opinions are not equal . Some are
very grat deal more robust sophisticated
and well supported in logic and argument
from others.”

- Duglas Adams. The Salmon of

Doubt.
 OPINIONS
Are statements of judgement that
are in need of further justification.
Share you thoughts/ opinion
Extrajudicial Killing
Pilipinas
to Maharlika
Democratic to Federalism
 How to critically examine opinions:
Firstwe need to clarify what n argument is. Argument is a
group of statements that serve to support a conclusion.So if
someone says,
“There is no hope in the Philippines government”.
This is not yet an argument. Its an expression of an opinion. If
the person wants to convince another person that hos opinion is
true, then he must provide reasons to support this claim. So the
arguments would look like this.
“ There is no hope in the Philippine government because many
officials are corrupt and Filipino voters continue to elect
them.”
 Clearly not all arguments are good arguments.
The branch of Philosophy called Logic studies
and elaborates on good argumentation. We call
fake arguments as “Fallacies”.
Fallacies are a group of statements that appear to
be arguments, but fail to support the conclusion.
Ex. There is no hope in the Philippine
government becaue the Philippines is a tropical
country.
Fallacies Enumerated in Logic
 Argumentum ad Hominem ( Argument against
the Person
 This is a fallacy used when people convince
others that someone’s argument should be
rejected because of the person’s personal
background – his history, nationality, race, socio
economic status, family and associations,
religions.
Example: Victim of Rape
 Why is this argument fallacious?
 It
is false argument because it seeks to blur
the wrongness of the act of sexual
harassment by focusing on the personality,
gender and other circumstances of the
victim.
2. Argumentum Ad Baculum (Appeal to
Force)
 Thisis an argument used by people who
want to win a conflict by issuing threats to
their opponents.
Example: A Student vs. Teacher
Why this argument fallacious?
 Itis problematic because instead of convincing the
other persons that you are right by giving good
reasons , you force them to accept whatever you say.
The listeners are made to say “yes” to your claim
even if in their minds they know that your argument
is foolish.
 3. Argumentum ad Misericordian ( Appeal
to Pity)
 This fallacy is also called appeal toemotion. It is
an argument used by people who want to win
people over manipulating their emotions. This is
a favorite tactic of a politicians during campaign
periods.
Example: a Politician who has been reported to
be involved in massive corruptions of public
funds.
 Why is this wrong?
 People should vote for politicians because of
their merits and capability to serve the public.
When people exercise their right to vote, it is
because they understand themselves as mature
and rational to choose for themselves what is
good for them.
Argumentum ad Populum ( Bandwagon
Fallacy)
 Thisfallacious argument is a favorite marketing strategy by
advertising agencies. It s used by appealing to the popular
sentiment of the public. If they want their product to sell,
they will get the most popular personalities to model their
product. This results to fans and avid followers of those
personalities buying the product.

Example: Shampoo Advertising