A quest for truth

SLAM: debunk creationism, pseudoscience, and superstitions. Discuss logic and morality.

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Enola Straight
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A quest for truth

Post by Enola Straight »

How does one differentiate "truth" from doctrine or rhetoric?
Masochist to Sadist: "Hurt me."
Sadist to Masochist: "No."
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Darth Wong
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Re: A quest for truth

Post by Darth Wong »

Enola Straight wrote:How does one differentiate "truth" from doctrine or rhetoric?
When discussing simple concepts like "did you use up the toilet paper roll without replacing it?", then truth is a simple concept. However, when discussing larger philosophical issues, there is no real difference between "truth" and "rhetoric", because "truth" is an unattainable ideal and the people who claim to have it are the ones you should watch out for.

The best we can achieve is accurate theories which fit into a self-consistent physical descriptive model that can be compared against repeatable observations, which is the scientific method.
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"It's not evil for God to do it. Or for someone to do it at God's command."- Jonathan Boyd on baby-killing

"you guys are fascinated with the use of those "rules of logic" to the extent that you don't really want to discussus anything."- GC

"I do not believe Russian Roulette is a stupid act" - Embracer of Darkness

"Viagra commercials appear to save lives" - tharkûn on US health care.

http://www.stardestroyer.net/Mike/RantMode/Blurbs.html
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