There is only one truth and that is that of the logician Alfred Tarski.
Truth is "correspondance with the facts".
We live in a world given to us by men "standing on the shoulders of giants and seeing further".
The big giants have been Plato, Hume, Kant, Mill and Popper.
You may not have heard of them. They can often still give you the drop on reality but their significance is in their massive contributions to our understanding of the world we live in in their contempory times. Others then stood on their shoulders and saw further.
If you wish to make an assertion about the world, you can check its verisimitude. You might think that it is true but does it correspond with the facts. If it doesn't then it is rubbish.
There are three kinds of knowledge; objective knowledge, subjective knowledge and belief. But only the first carries any weight. Who cares about your opinion if it doesn't correspond with the facts? Should we take your beliefs seriously if they do not correspond with the facts?
Now that I have told you the theory of truth, "correspondance with the facts". Can we please have some intelligent comment.
We are not occupying Iraq or Afganistan. We are not there to steal their resources. Afganistan has no resources. We have dutyfully remained in Iraq and Afganistan to keep the peace. Never before has so much been given in blood and treasure to help ailing countries.
But now that the money has run out we are prepared to cut and run and never mind the consequences.
We would like to be out tomorrow and unfortunalely for the people of Iraq and Afganistan we will be out in the near future. "Its the economy stupid". We have given them some $3t. We have stopped the Halabjas, the supergun, the Scuds, the WMD and the freedom to train terrorists from around the world. We have removed Saddam. He cannot kill another 700,000 Kurds.
The war killed a handful of innocents and all of those injured were given first class medical help. Tribalism killed 200,000 and we did stay to mitigate these losses as was our duty. Regime change has saved lives.
We have not always been whiter than white. Many of us would have ignored Halabja and chosen to keep the money at home and come up with conspiracy theories and played down the very real WMD.
We have to hope that a future generation of Iraqies are thankful for the removal of Saddam and take heart in reason and truth, "correspondance with the facts".
There is misery in the refusal to accept the "truth" and take sucure in 1300 year old wisdom when we could accept the spiritual wisdom of the truth; correspondance with the fact.
I am speaking to all of you. There are only rational beings on the earth and there is only one kind of knowledge, objective knowledge, and only one truth, correspondance with the facts.
