Australian General Semantics Society

 

April Sun 23rd at Gavan's

Seeking "Unmediated Truth" - "Fiction" in the Pursuit of "Fact" ?

What is "The Truth"  - If you cannot "know thyself", how can you "know the World"?

Is it true that "Not all that counts, can be counted, and not all that can be counted, counts"?

Can we teach "truth" by devices of "fiction"?

Led by Robert James

 

1)     “Catching up”

Reflections on our own lives and pursuits, and follow-up from our seminars so far this year.

2)  Getting right into it:

 

“What is ‘Truth’? – A contemporary analysis via Scott Adams’ “Dilbert” cartoon.  The pix were in colour, but the dialogue proceeded thus:

 

 

Boss to staff:

“Remember, Quality is our top priority!”

 

Staff1:

“Is it more important than safety?”

 

Boss:

“Ooh I forgot about that one.”

 

Staff2:

“Is quality more important than obeying the law?”

 

Boss:

“Well, probably not… “

 

Staff3:

“If we could maximise shareholder value by selling lower-quality items … wouldn’t we have a fiduciary responsibility to do it?”

 

Boss:

“Hmm … I’m sure it’s in the top four … “

 

Staff4:

“What if we had to lie to achieve quality … ?”

 

etc …

 

 

There are some pretty obvious questions here aren’t there?  What about the “is of identity” in the very first statement?

 

3. We moved on to some Buddhist-type stories

where people were seeking “unmediated truth” by various means, and with outcomes that we would consider unusual.  Consider this one:

 

 

Pupil:

“Master, I had a strange dream last night. I dreamt that I was a butterfly!”

 

Master:

“And how do you know, pray tell, that you are not now a butterfly dreaming that of being a man?”

 

 

There are a great many such stories, of which we considered a few.

 

4. Alfred Korzybski’s assertion:

 (paraphrased): “All human problems are soluble by use of correct symbolism to fact.”

 

And from Caro:

    “All human knowledge is postulational in structure, and inferential.”

 

 

5. Considering some provocative quotations relating to the nature of “truth”:

 

A great pool of quotations were spread around the table.  We wallowed in them for some time, noting examples of wit and wisdom, frivolity and folly, each selecting a few for comment.

 

We were asked to select a few which appealed, and some which did not, or about which we had reservations or concerns for some reason.

 

6. Truth and Truths in the Literature and the Arts

 

Can truth be found in fiction?  We read some exerpts from Chris’s play “Beyond Truth”, written and performed recently in India, and undergoing embellishment as it circles the globe.

 

David contributed some devices of fiction:

 

Adventures of Hucklebury Finn by Mark Twain or was that The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - reframing e.g. white washing a wall 'is' fun

 

The Emperor’s New Suit by Hans Christian Andersen - the emperor has no clothes (who emperor is and what the clothes are, I'll leave to your GS enhanced intelligences)

 

Alice in Wonderland - the Cheshire Cat grinned and then the cat left, leaving the grin behind (elementalism anyone?  Now I wonder how this could be applied to "knowing the world"?  LOL)

 

The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning - (The and then extensional device - you either stop procrastinating now (pay the piper) or he gets ya later...)

 

 

7. Some formal theories of “truth”

 

Laborious to contemplate, but of interest to see a little glimpse of the intense studies of the concept of truth, that have been undertaken.  These include:

 

    Theories of truth as “substantive”

 

Correspondence theory

Coherence theory,

Pragmatic theory,

Constructivist theory

Consensus theory

Etc.

 

“Deflationary” theories

Redundancy theory

Performance theory

Etc.

 

    Formal Definitions

 

Semantic Theory of Truth

Mathematical meaning of truth

Kripke’s theory of truth

Subjective vs Objective truths

Relative vs Absolute

Etc.

 

8. Non-verbal Experiential and Gastronomic Truths

 

We chewed on the epistemic theories of truth as notions such as knowledge, belief, acceptance, verification, justification and perspective.  This brought about a certain measure of intellectual fatigue and hunger for nutritional truths, so we adjourned to partake of Gavan’s magnificent “Pork Stew”, with rice and salads, oven-fresh bread rolls, drinkies and walkies.

 

9.  “Searching for Unmediated Truth”.

 

After luncheon we embarked on Gregg Hoffmann’s GS fictional work of the 21st Century, the epic “Searching for Unmediated Truth”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next meeting is on

May Sun 9th at Gavan's

Seeking "Unmediated Truth" - "Fiction" in the Pursuit of "Fact" ?

What is "The Truth"  - If you cannot "know thyself", how can you "know the World"?

Is it true that "Not all that counts, can be counted, and not all that can be counted, counts"?  

Can we teach "truth" by devices of "fiction"?

Led by Robert James

 

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