On Truth and Falsity

                    In Defense of the Dogmatists

The skeptics assert that sense objects and thought objects can never be proven to be true and real. Yet, they admit that truth and reality may really exist. But then they avow that any test that could prove that sense objects and thought objects can be true and real always proves to be an impossible test, such as their infinity test. pb. OP p. 89. This means that they actually claim that no difference between the certainty of reality and the deception of illusion can ever be discerned by humans. But in a subtle way, they introduce the idea into human minds that since truth and reality can never be discovered to be certain, then everything could, in truth, be false and meaningless. In other words, the meaninglessness of life can be certain, but truth and reality can never be certain. If truth and reality, which are meaningful, can never be discovered to be certain, then the only alternative is the illusion called meaninglessness. This means that even the feelings and ideas of love and compassion can be doubted to be real. Doubt and confusion are the real aims of the skeptics. Humans always think of illusion as being false and useless, and they think of sense objects and thought objects as being true and useful. The philosophy of the skeptics deliberately confuses these two views of life for the purpose of introducing the idea of meaninglessness into human life in order to cause humans to give up the idea that the certainty of truth and reality can ever be discovered.

Yet these hypocritical skeptics, who claim that they have suspended all judgment as to what is real and not real, happen to be perfectly content to live in a peaceful and harmonious society made possible by laws, all of which happens to be combinations of useful systems constructed by the use of sense objects and thought objects in human minds. pb. OP p. 20-21. The skeptics claim that they attain quietude because they suspend judgment as to what is real and not real, when in actuality, they attain quietude and tranquility because they conform their lives to the peaceful and harmonious societies in which they live, made possible by useful systems of sense objects and thought objects. pb. OP p. 25. They seem to be quite certain that they have obtained quietude. As a universal rule, illusions prove to be useless except in certain special circumstances, and sense objects and thought objects prove to be useful to construct beneficial systems that makes the lives of humans better. This condition can only mean that sense objects and thought objects must certainly be true and real whereas illusions must usually be useless and unreal.

The skeptics ridicule the dogmatists whom they call "conceited braggarts." pb. OP p. 34. But the skeptics consider humans to be not much better than animals. The skeptics compare humans to dogs who just accept their lives the way they are, and they suggest that humans should do the same. The skeptics assume that dogs and humans live on the same level because both can have the same virtues, such as courage. pb. OP p. 34-35. But what the skeptics miss is that dogs and animals never think about ways to make the lives of their fellow animals better. The dogmatists so exactly that.

The ancient Greek philosopher, Democritus, by his use of logic and reason, deduced that atoms had to exist. At that time, atoms were nonevident. The skeptics contended that since no one can ever be certain about the reality or unreality of appearances, then the use of logic to deduce the existence of nonevident things, such as atoms, was a waste of time. pb. OP p. 19-20. But Democritus, and all the dogmatic philosophers of that time, were thinkers who tried to use logic and reason to construct systems of ideas that might improve the knowledge of humans which, in turn, would improve the wisdom of humans which would also improve the quality of human life and society. In general, the ancient Greeks were thinkers who invented original systems of law and governance which made civilized societies much better places to live than that of the brutal lives of the barbarians. The skeptics thought that no one could discern any difference in the lives of the barbarians and the lives of civilized people. But Democritus had the last laugh on the skeptics because the scientific age took up his quest and discovered that atoms do exist. The fact that Democritus had a lot of wrong ideas about atoms makes no difference. Democritus tried to use his logic and reason to invent a system of knowledge that might improve the wisdom of humans and thus better their lives. In view of that attempt, Democritus did a fantastic job.

Modern science has adopted a system to discover truth similar is some ways to that of the Greek thinkers. A scientist can use the facts he already knows and combine them with a system of ideas in his own mind and invent a theory about unknown truth that might be discovered. Other scientists then do experiments to discover the truth or falsity of that theory. Some Greek thinkers observed nature and devised theories, but they did not do experiments. Albert Einstein used the facts he already knew combined with reason and logic and thought experiments to devise both of his theories of relativity. Later, experiments were done that proved his theories to be true. His theories proved to be of great value to mankind. Other scientists devised a theory that light had to be propagated through space through a medium that they called aether. When later experiments proved that aether does not exist, the word "aether" became equal to the idea of nothing. As a general rule, truth and reality can always be separated from falsity and unreality because systems of truth always prove to be useful to the benefit of humanity whereas falsity and unreality always prove to be useless and should be usefully discarded. The skeptics bogged their minds down in the idea that truth and reality can never be separated from falsity and unreality.