1. Additional Thoughts

2. Competing ideas != competing truths –The theories regard the truth but are not the truth itself –Truths, by definition cannot compete with one another. You cannot have A and not A both be true. Taking context into consideration only changes the statement to a conditional (If X then A, If Y then not A), it does not mean that opposite statements are able to coexist (If X then A and not A is impossible) 1 If this were not the case then truth and all its reference should be stricken from our vocabulary Incorrect ideas != truth changes from true to false –There is something that is true, and our ideas may be close or far off. Even if the truth is a developmental sort, it is in a particular state when we observe the phenomenon, and that is what we are trying to estimate. –Example: WMD status in pre-war Iraq. There were or were not WMDs regardless of what we thought at the time (and in this case evidently not, though had the evidence been approached scientifically rather than politically this would have been determined).

3. Having different experiences, interpretation, biases etc. does not mean that the thing we are trying to understand changes for everyone. Whatever it is we are all trying to understand is the truth, regardless of how different our ideas about it may be or whether we ever find it. Our ideas are reflective of reality and an interpretation of it, not the cause of it. –If you think otherwise, jump out of an airplane without a parachute and try to think your way to a soft landing. On the other hand, truths based on simple physics allow a scientist to predict what will happen very well. Believing something is true does not make it so. –Take the depressed person for example, his interpretation of the world is more pessimistic (or realistic depending on which theory you choose) than what independent observation would suggest is required. –If you want to say their perception is a true one same as anyone else’s, why would you bother giving them therapy? How about the paranoid schizophrenic? Do we simply wish them well and send them on their way with their ‘truth’?

4. Ask yourself, do you find at any point in your daily living where your behavior is indicative of one who thinks that nothing exists independently of them? –Wouldn’t we all be much happier if we could just wish the world the way we want? What would stop us from becoming gods?

5. If belief in non-truths can result in little to no consequence why give special status to truth? –First you’d have to prove that there is no consequence and that one’s life is richer by believing in fantasy. It is very easy however to show that ignorance hurts us on regular occasion. Which has the greater possibility for enriching our lives- belief in Santa Claus or discovering the causes of altruistic behavior that would allow us all to be more giving? We can believe that there’s no global warming phenomenon despite the evidence, but believing in the truth will hopefully allow us to work towards a cleaner environment and healthier living Believing there can be no oil shock is not going to prepare a society for the calamity that will result from it Would you want to continue blissfully ignorant in a relationship that works for you, despite the other person being miserable? Or would you rather face the painful truth and move on? What if you were that other person? However grim the truth may be, there is no justification for not being desirous of it over falsehood, and certainly no one actually behaves in that manner 1