The hypocycloid of truth.

It's what we do when we make certain claims like science being the asymptote of truth. Philosophy basically deals with framing questions, not certain facts about the world. We're trying to figure out how it all fits together - because we appreciate the distinction between appearance and reality and wish to see the relationship between the two. We want to know what it is that we are asymptotically approaching (truth), why science is the curve that does so (is it always?), and whether or not its asymptote is anything even meaningful at all, or simply the end of scientific inquiry.

Part of what makes philosophy so interesting is how self-reflexive and indeterminate it is. You can't pin it down but philosophers nevertheless keep trying to. It's certainly the case that philosophy deals with legitimate things but it's also a philosophical question to figure out what these things are.

99.999....% probability

If science really is the asymptote of truth—an asymptote being a curve that gets infinitly closer to a line but never ever touches it ; the idea is often atributed to Victor Hugo—what would the equivalent analogy be for philosophy related to truth ? — Nuncaltussum

Well, first off, it's not true. Science does not get closer and closer to some objective reality.

But back to your metaphor. If science is the asymptote of truth, metaphysics, i.e. philosophy, is the coordinate system, the x and y axes, the graph paper, the straight edge, the pencil, or more accurately these days - my Lenovo computer, Microsoft Windows, and Excel.

If science really is the asymptote of truth—an asymptote being a curve that gets infinitly closer to a line but never ever touches it ; the idea is often atributed to Victor Hugo—what would the equivalent analogy be for philosophy related to truth ? — Nuncaltussum

The passionfruit of truth.

Oh this is my favorite answer.

If science really is the asymptote of truth—an asymptote being a curve that gets infinitly closer to a line but never ever touches it ; the idea is often atributed to Victor Hugo—what would the equivalent analogy be for philosophy related to truth ? — Nuncaltussum

It would also be the asymptote of truth. To say otherwise would be saying that philosophy doesn't attempt to create explanations that are consistent with the way the world is. Philosophy is a science. You cannot have conflicting answers in different domains of investigation. Everything must be integrated. In doing so, you make philosophy a science.

The Geometry of Philosophy.

Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel
Like a snowball down a mountain, or a carnival balloon
Like a carousel that's turning running rings around the moon
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face
And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind!

Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own
Down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shone
Like a door that keeps revolving in a half forgotten dream
Or the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping past the minutes of its face
And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind!

Keys that jingle in your pocket, words that jangle in your head
Why did summer go so quickly, was it something that you said?
Lovers walk along a shore and leave their footprints in the sand
Is the sound of distant drumming just the fingers of your hand?
Pictures hanging in a hallway and the fragment of a song
Half remembered names and faces, but to whom do they belong?
When you knew that it was over you were suddenly aware
That the autumn leaves were turning to the color of her hair!
Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel
As the images unwind, like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind!
Writer/s: BERTHOLD BRECHT, KURT WEILL

The Geometry of Philosophy. — unenlightened

Love it. Thank you.

Well, first off, it's not true. Science does not get closer and closer to some objective reality. — T Clark

On the contrary, I believe that that is exactly what science does. A claim in science is accepted only when the claim is verifiable, over and over, by others. Often this is a measurement of something. Measurements of things like the speed of light, the weight of atoms, the size of the electron have only gotten more and more precise as time goes on. Our knowledge of animal behavior and the classification of plants and animals only improves with time. Etc.That is the very definition of getting closer and closer to some objective reality.

There still is an indescribably huge collection of questions we don't know the answers to and, undoubtedly, don't even know enough to formulate the questions correctly. We very well may never know all the answers. But that doesn't change the fact that science is getting closer to knowing some objective reality.