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Quote by: Athena Robin Williams said reality is an interesting concept.
Many people have reality confused with truth.
The ancient Greeks determined that truth is that which does not change. Such as the laws of math and physics do not change, but our understanding of the laws can change.
Clearly to know truth, we must study math and science. However, they also said, that which we observe changes, and also our perceptions change, therefore, truth is not what we observe. The only way we can come to truth is though discussion until we have agreement on the best reasoning, and even then we must question our truths, because a new finding can dramatically change our understanding of truth. While there may be absolute truths, we can not be absolutely sure we know them. |
I would add that causality also does not change.
What you say about our being unable to know absolute truths with absolute certainty is the basis for the scientific method, which is all about uncertainty. Yet this implication is oftentimes counterintuitive, since people have an innate desire for security and certainty in their lives.
This uncertainty applies to causality as well. The reason why people can often interpret a chain of events differently is because no one can take the entire chain of causality into account. For one thing, that chain, taken to its logical conclusion, extends all the way back to the beginning of the universe; for another, the chain encompasses more variables and more information than any one (or, perhaps, million) human mind can account for.
- Rob