Well not entirely, because semantic interpretation is also part of formal logic when applied to a natural language, and semantic interpretation is rather not thought of as kown a priori, because there are alot of different opinions on it.

For some human thinkers, something can only be true or false if it is open to verification, at least in theory if not also in practice. The truth of something lies at the end of our inquiry into that thing. But as our inquiry can have no end, the truth of something can never be more than our best opinion of that thing. If best opinion is all that we can have or hope for, then best opinion is as good as truth, and truth is a redundant concept. The best opinion is only best because, at least on average, it is closest to the truth, which, as well as instrumental value, has deep intrinsic value.

Then, there is the political self deception/lying to oneself: The very nature self-deception is hard to distinguish from the truth—whether our internal, emotional truth or the external truth. One has to develop and trust one’s instinct: what does it feel like to react in the way that I’m reacting? Does it feel calm, considered, and nuanced, or shallow and knee-jerk? Am I taking the welfare of others into consideration, or is it just all about me? Am I satisfied with, even proud of, my self-conquering effort, or am I left feeling small, anxious, or ashamed?

Self-deception doesn’t ‘add up’ in the grand scheme of things and can easily be brought down by even superficial questioning. Talk to other people and gather their opinions. If they disagree with you, does that make you feel angry, upset, or defensive? The coherence of your reaction speaks volumes about the character of your motives.

Politics are inherently philosophical. Philosophy arose out of political necessity.

Truth isn't dead. Truthfulness has been coughing up blood for some time now, though — Ciceronianus the White

:100: Amazing :up:

I haven't read many books so you might want to take this with a pinch of salt. All books on human history has one word that is, for certain, common among them and will occupy a considerable portion of their pages and that word is "religion". I respect religion for despite all the evils that have been done in its name it is primarily about goodness. However, religious morality is intimately tied to some kind of after life and that, in my humble opinion, is symptomatic of an inability to handle truth - the truth of meaninglessness and its ultimate form, death. Despite the hype surrounding truth, whether it be a parent admonishing his child for lying or philosophers thinking deeply about the fundamental nature of it, we've all been in the business of either concealing the truth or turning away from it as if it's a ghastly wound for well over 2000 years. I'm not accusing anyone of a wrong here but I am concerned about the ill effects of creating imaginary worlds to hide truths just because they're hard to deal with. Could the cure be worse than the disease?

That said, truth is indestructible and so the only thing we can do, if we dislike its implications, is to conceal it or invent an alternative that is more, let's say, palatable.

I haven't read the thread but saw the title and just wanted to put in my two cents.

Postmodernists observe that logic has often been used to suppress truth and oppress people. Who hasn't had the experience of some authority figure or bureaucracy using logic and rationality to do you some moral wrong? "We're only following the rules."

We live in the midst of populist revolutions going on in many countries. The wise elites who supposedly "know what's best" have been mucking things up badly, and people are starting to notice.

Logic is no guide to truth. Logic only tells you which conclusions follow from the given premises. The question is: Who controls the premises?

Im sorry I dont really have much to dsay about religion, except, God has a very bad sense of humor.

Im sorry I dont really have much to dsay about religion, except, God has a very bad sense of humor. — ernestm

That's so kind of you. Really. You saved god by pinning evil down to a bad sense of humor