"Truth is what you trust your life with"
- Jack London
Now, this quote explicitly states that the truth (rather, what you believe to be the truth) is something you are so sure abut that you can bet your life on it, something like "I am sure that a body at the equator of the Earth experiences a gravitational acceleration of 9.81 m/s^2". This is a scientific fact that people take to be true.
This quote seems rather feasible, in the sense, it leaves room for the concept of relativism, a concept that states that two people with contrasting views can have different "truths" with neither of them being wrong in their own right. Take for example, the India- Pakistan issue (Yes, again, seems to be quite a useful conflict for beliefs and truths!). For the general Pakistani, a prejudiced one, India is evil. He can lay his life on the line to back this thing which he believes to be his "truth". From his point of view, he is not entirely wrong, in the sense, the Indians might have done something to affect him, or his family; which leaves a lasting impact on him. The same applies for Indians (the other way around, of course). Hence, this quote seems to comply with the idea of relativism to a great extent.
However, this statement is not completely right in the sense, there can be a contradiction. What about the new concept you learned at school today? Take for example, hybridization. The concept of hybridization (Chemistry) may not be completely understood by someone, and it may not make sense to them. To them, it is not "true". However, what about the whole scientific community which believes that it IS true?! What about those researchers who have spent billions of hours trying to prove using the VSEPR theory that hybridization does in fact fit into the chemistry model that exists today? (Apologies for the chemistry example, but it best suites the argument I am trying to make) To them, hybridization is true. There is no room for relativism. There is this kid, who is ready to claim that this concept is false, yet, to the rest of the scientific community, it is true, they can lay their life on it. What about this case?
Hence, in my opinion, this quote is true, to an extent, where it fits in with the concept of relativism, but it falls short in some cases as there might be something that is true which you are not ready to lay your life for, so something you are ready to lay your life for, which is not "true" to the rest of the people.
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