On Truth and Falsity

                       The Constant Systems of Reality

The skeptics contend that since humans can perceive different systems of experience under many different circumstances, then no one can tell truth from falsity or reality from unreality. They provide examples of what they mean. A porch viewed from a corner appears shorter, but when viewed from the middle appears symmetrical. But they ignore the fact that their examples simply display different systems of perception which always contain the same constant experiences arranged in different ways. The porch appears short from the corner, but "short" happens to be a constant appearance whenever a person views anything that is truly short. When viewed from the corner, the porch appears as an optical illusion where the mind substitutes the real appearance called "short" which causes a false system. Yet, every appearance in this false system is real. Falsity never appears in the constant appearances that always forms true and false systems. Every appearance in every system is constant, and therefore, real. Falsity only appears in false combinations of constant, true appearances, and then only as the real idea of nothing which indirectly indicates unreality. Those who designed and built the porch built it to be symmetrical, and therefore, the true system of perception would be that the porch is truly symmetrical. pb. OP ps.43-51.

False systems of constant appearances in sense objects and thought objects can occur because of misapprehension, hallucination, optical illusions, or simply because of mistakes that humans are prone to make such as mistakes in arithmetic. But all false systems that humans can make or perceive always comprise constant sense and thought appearances that never change. The color red can appear in many different shades, but the constant idea of "red" itself never changes. Circles can appear in many different sizes, but the idea of "circle" itself never changes. Short can be relative to whatever something is shorter than, but the idea of "short" never changes. One can judge a work of art to be beautiful or ugly, but one must possess the constant idea of "beauty" in order to be able to make such a judgment. Humans can formulate many true and false systems of justice, but the ideal of "justice" itself never changes. One would think that if humans really lived in a world where one could not tell the difference between truth and falsity, and between reality and unreality, then everything would be in a constant state of change, would fade in and out of existence, similar to impressionistic works of art. One may object that systems can deteriorate. But such systems continuously change in constant appearances such as in color and breakdown. The system called "constant appearances" means that they are constant in the mind, not that they constantly appear. Deterioration in systems simply entails another constant called "entropy." Even when systems deteriorate, they dissolve into other constants such as gases and the elements of matter.

The constants in the mind can only be possible because of another constant system called "remembrance." Remembrance occurs because an intelligent mind retains all of its constant appearances that it learned from experience, and all impressions on a mind are experienced. Remembrance in the mind causes another constant system to be possible called "knowledge." Knowledge is the ability of the mind to use its constant appearances to formulate true or false systems in perception. This means constants must be real because true systems prove to be useful to advance human knowledge whereas false systems which are illusions always prove to be useless except to fiction writers and magicians. Knowledge also makes possible the formulation of appearances into words that have meaning so that humans can communicate with each other to formulate true or false systems. Whether humans formulate true or false systems, they must possess the constant system of "knowledge" in order to do so. Whether one observes a sense object or thinks of an idea, both can only be the objects of consciousness, and therefore, both have been experienced, and both prove useful in the formulation of true and false systems. The constant system called "wisdom" occurs when a person becomes very good at formulating true systems instead of false ones.

One would think that if humans did not possess the constant true systems of "intelligence" and "knowledge," then human consciousness could only be equal to that of the animals. The animals seem to possess some remembrance, but they do not possess knowledge by means of which they can formulate true or false systems. But humans can formulate useful, true systems, and with the same constant appearances can formulate false systems that humans can identify by the use of the idea of nothing, but humans never observe unreality itself. Since humans never observe unreality itself, then every sense object and thought object can only be real. Humans can also formulate systems of speculation and opinion which takes time and investigation, or even a system of trial and error, to discover whether or not they are true or false systems. In any case, humans always experience reality whether they form true or false systems, or systems of speculation and opinion, by their use of the constant system of knowledge.