Transcript IS TRUTH RELATIVE? - Castle High School

WHAT IS
TRUTH?
TRUTH
THE WAY THINGS ARE
--REALITY--
Then what is…
LOSING
TOUCH WITH
REALITY
INSANITY
Where does
Truth come
from?
IS TRUTH RELATIVE?
Protagoras: Truth is relative. It is only a matter of opinion.
Socrates: You mean that truth is mere subjective opinion?
Protagoras: Exactly. What is true for you is true for you,
and what is true for me, is true for me. Truth is subjective.
Socrates: Do you really mean that? That my opinion is true
by virtue of its being my opinion?
Protagoras: Indeed I do.
Socrates: My opinion is: Truth is absolute, not opinion, and
that you, Mr. Protagoras, are absolutely in error. Since this
is my opinion, then you must grant that it is true according
to your philosophy.
Protagoras: You are quite correct, Socrates
What does Truth have
to do with how you
feel about your belief
system?
Absolute or relative?
--personal character---usually unchanging-“Treat others as you want to be treated.” (Christianity)
“Not one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother what he
desires for himself.” (Islam)
“One should not behave towards others in a way which is disagreeable
to oneself. This is the essence of morality.” (Hinduism)
“Do not do to others what you would not like yourself.” (Confucianism)
“We obtain salvation by loving our fellow man and God.” (Sikhism)
“Having made oneself the example, one should neither slay nor
cause to slay….As I am, so are other beings; thus let one not
strike another, nor get another struck. That is the meaning.”
(Buddhism)
“Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself.” (Judaism)
stress a social system in which those morals are applied =
Professional
absolutism
Fixed moral laws which are to be
obeyed at all times
ANTINOMIANISM
No fixed moral laws, but actions
that are spontaneous
NIHILISM
No God – no rules– every person is
a law unto himself
SITUATIONAL ETHICS
Joseph Fletcher
balance between
antinomianism and
absolutism
LOVE is sole factor in
making judgments
How are you able to foretell
consequences of a persons’ actions
What role
should
morality and
Ethics play in
Religion?
“Morality cannot be independent of religion,
since it is only a consequence of religion –
that is, of the relationship a person has to
the world – but it also included in religion
by implication. Every religion is an answer
to the question of the meaning of life. And
the religious answer includes a certain
moral demand.”
--Leo Tolstoy
HOW WOULD YOU
DEFINE AMERICA?
What role should
religion, morality,
and ethics play in
Society?
MAYFLOWER
COMPACT - 11/11/1620
We whose names are underwritten…having
undertaken,
a voyage to plant the first colony…”
MAYFLOWER
COMPACT - 11/11/1620
“In the name of God, Amen.
We whose names are underwritten…having
undertaken,
For the glorie of God, and advancemente of the
Christian faith…,
a voyage to plant the first colony…”
The New England
Primer - 1777
1st Grade
Reading Book
Only Bible
sold more
copies
Harvard
Princeton
Columbia
ALL FOUNDED ON
CHRISTIAN RELIGION
PRINCIPLES
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
“Cursed is all learning that
is contrary to the Cross of
Christ.”
Founding Statement 1746
JOHN ADAMS
“Statesmen,
my dear Sir, may plan and
speculate for liberty, but it is
Religion and Morality alone, which
can establish the Principles upon
which Freedom can securely stand.”
-1776
Original Delaware Constitution 1776
Article 22
Every person who shall be chosen a
member of either house, or
appointed to any office or place of
trust…shall…make and subscribe
the following declaration, to wit:
Original Delaware Constitution
“I, _________, do profess faith in
God the Father, and in Jesus
Christ his only Son, and in the
Holy Ghost, one God, blessed
evermore; And I do acknowledge
the Holy Scriptures of the Old and
New Testament to be given by
Divine Inspiration.”
SAMUEL ADAMS
1778
“Religion and good morals are the only
solid foundations of public liberty
and happiness.”
NORTHWEST ORDINANCE 1787
Article III
“Religion, morality, and knowledge, being
necessary to good government and the
happiness of mankind, schools and the
means of education shall forever be
encouraged.”
“The great pillars of all
government and of social
life [are] virtue,
morality, and religion.
This is the armor…and
this alone, that renders
us invincible.”
GEORGE WASHINGTON
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to
political prosperity, religion and morality are
indispensable supports….In vain would that
man claim the tribute of patriotism who should
labor to subvert these great pillars of human
happiness, these firmest props of the duties of
men and citizens.…”
-Farewell Address 1796
BENJAMIN RUSH - 1798
“The only foundation for…a
republic is to be laid in
Religion. Without this
there can be no virtue,
and without virtue, and
without virtue there can
be no liberty, and liberty
is the object and life of
all republican
governments.”
Signer of
Declaration of
Independence
1st Attorney
General
Webster’s Dictionary – 1828
Politics
“The science of government; that part of ethics
which consists in the regulation and government
of a nation or state, for the preservation of its
safety, peace and prosperity; comprehending the
defense of its existence and rights against foreign
control or conquest…and the protection of its
citizens in their own rights, with the preservation
and improvement of their morals.”
ALEXIS de TOCQUEVILLE
“The Americans combine the
notions of Christianity
and liberty so intimately
in their minds that it is
impossible to make them
conceive one without the
other.”
“In my view, the Christian Religion is the
most important and one of the first things in
which all children, under a free
government, ought to be instructed…no
truth is more evident to my mind than that
the Christian Religion must be the basis of
any government intended to secure the
rights and privileges of a free people.”
Noah Webster - 1836
NEA - 1892
“…if the study of the Bible is to be
excluded from all state schools; if the
inculcation of the principles of
Christianity is to have no place in the
daily program; I the worship of God is
to form no part of the general exercises
of these public elementary schools;
then the good of the state would be
better served by restoring all schools
to church control.”
President
Clinton - 1995
“The First Amendment…does
not convert our schools into
religion-free zones.”