On Truth and Falsity

               A Reality Exists even for the Skeptics

The skeptics claim that no difference between truth and falsity, reality and unreality, can be made about any appearance. Yet, they do admit that appearances occur to humans. pb. OP p.234. The opposite of appearances can only be the system, "no appearances whatsoever." Therefore, the skeptics have a sure truth that appearances transcend "no appearances whatsoever." The skeptics belie their own claim that truth can never be separated from falsity.

The skeptics have other ideas that they consider to be true. They consider all attempts by the dogmatists to search for truth to be absurd. This has to be a judgment they make. That means the word "absurd" has a definite meaning to them. Anything that is definite has to be true. That means "absurdity" has to be a true thought object to them. pb. OP p.227.

The skeptics consider any logic and reason used by the dogmatists to be useless and invalid. But they consider their own forms of logic and reason to be useful in making the judgment that no difference between truth and falsity can ever be discerned. They consider their own forms of logic and reason to be true systems of judgment. Even the skeptics cannot avoid making what they consider to be true judgments about appearances.

The skeptics also admit that they become hungry and thirsty, and that that is nature's guidance. pb. OP p. 23. If nature can guide, then nature has to be real. Nature itself has devised true systems of hunger and thirst so that humans will eat and drink in order to sustain their lives. Nature encompasses everything that exists in creation. This means that God, who created nature, has provided humans with the experience of every sense object and thought object that they can turn into meaningful words so that humans can formulate true systems for the increased knowledge, wisdom, and well being of all humans. Humans can also use those true and real words to formulate false systems, but humans can also use the real idea of nothing to recognize those false systems so that they can be usefully discarded. Only reality appears to humans. Falsity only pertains to the false combinations of true and real sense objects and thought objects. Every impression on human consciousness has been experienced, and every experience proves itself to be true and real. Practical systems that improve human life are the tests of their reality.

Where then does unreality appear? The opposite of reality has to be the system, "no appearances whatsoever." Conscious humans never experience the system of "no appearances whatsoever." The closest that a conscious human can come to that system is when a person is in a coma. But even in a coma, a person still clings to reality through the sub-conscious experiences of the true and real systems of heartbeat and breathing. For this reason also, there can be no such thing as a mindless zombie because a zombie would sub-consciously do whatever it does. But if consciousness dies when a physical body dies, then a dead person can have no conscious experiences, and therefore, even a dead person cannot have the experience of "no experiences whatsoever." This condition can only mean that unreality never appears even though humans can obtain an indirect idea about it when the idea of nothing indicates the existence of a false system. The opposite of unreality can only be reality. All of this put together can only mean that consciousness is absolutely necessary for the establishment of reality, and reality is absolutely necessary for the establishment of consciousness. Whether reality is idealistic in nature or realistic in nature really makes no difference. "All consciousness is consciousness of something," as Jean Paul Sartre so aptly put it.

Unreality then means the same as nonexistence. If the universe were a singularity before it burst into existence, then it had to have been in a state of "no appearances whatsoever." Therefore, an Infinite Consciousness had to be present to burst the universe into appearances and into reality when the so-called big bang occurred.