Well, I can't claim credit for this, but I don't no who to give it too. Anyway, here's the question:

Is there such a thing as absolute truth? If you answer is "no" and you say there is not absolute truth; than is that answer absolutely true?

I hope that made since, I'm interested in seeing the responses this gets.

My answer would have to be yes. There are some absolute truths, however, I sincerely doubt they are the things we typically think of as being "absolute truth."...If that makes any since.

It's really late so I'm not feeling too coherent.

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~John Locke

Discuss the Issue, Not the Poster

"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not everyone is entitled to their own facts"
-Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan

"Great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind."
-Teddy Roosevelt

I believe there are absolute truths and I do not believe that knowledge is unattainable. I would describe a belief as something along the lines of religion. "I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins." I would then describe knowledge as something that is undeniably proven, whether a simple task or as complicated as advanced chemistry and physics. "I know that if I rub these two sticks together the right way the energy released as heat will start a fire."

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Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their altars. ... I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask no one to live for me, nor do I live for others. I covet no mans soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet.

Ayn Rand, Anthem.

I do believe in absolute truth. It's called math. 2+2 will always equal 4.

This is the question DEscarte asked, which brought him to 'I Think therefor I am".

In short (do not have much time). He said that it is human nature to doubt. We can be sure of our doubt, the fact that we doubt is an actual truth, there for, because we think (doubt) we are, and this is true. (of course, this is a very simplified way of putting things)

I think there are absolute truth, but not everything people claim to be truth is. But we cannot deny certain truths. Tomorow morning the sun will rise. Rain is wet, to give silly examples.

But other things are not abosolute truths. For instance Killing is wrong, is not an abosolute truth. But some think it is.

AH

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After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.
For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man. - Nelson Mandela

descartes i think was more about what you can be sure that exists. you can deny everything around you from existing apart from your own thinking.
believing in an external reality is something we cant prove but we are at the same time forced to accept most thing around us as existing facts. objective realityis therefore a necessary assumption we all share.

Okay, so conveniently I blogged about this subject on my MySpace last July. So, the following is simply just my copy/pasted blog.

There are no eternal facts, as there are no absolute truths"-Friedrich Nietzsche

This statement by the philosopher Nietzsche is false. It simply just can not be. Here is my reasoning behind it. The definition of absolute is free from imperfection, meaning that whatever is an absolute truth is infallible. Unquestionable. Eternal facts obviously mean that nothing can be a fact forever, that something will always come along and prove an accepted "fact" as erroneous. The fact that these two things, absolute truth and eternal facts, do not exist is in itself an impossibility.

If there are no eternal facts, then that statement itself is not a fact and there are in fact eternal facts. Maybe a bit of a tongue twister on that last sentence. The same would go for absolute truths. If there are no absolute truths, then obviously that statement is not a truth and there are in fact absolute truths because it is not true. So, there is only for sure one eternal fact and only one absolute truth. The possibility that there is more than one eternal fact and absolute truth is there, but it can not be proven and known for sure by anyone. Just as nobody can be sure that there is truly a God except through faith, and even then the possibility is there that God does not exist. At least in the typical organized religious sense of the meaning of God. That being said, science itself can not be wholly trusted and believed because it is in a constant state of evolution and change, new theories and "facts" replacing old ones all of the time, proving old "facts" and theories wrong or incomplete. So, the possibility of evolution in the biological definition is not an eternal fact or even an absolute truth. It is merely an accepted theory, much like Christianity or any religion with God/gods is an accepted faith. Neither is wholly sure of its own truth but the possibility is there. The same can be said of their coexistance and possible symbiotic relationship where there can be neither one without the other, the possibility is there.

I'm not sure if any of that made much sense. It makes sense in my mind but putting it into words so that others can understand it makes sense is a whole other story. It might help if I use the example of the theory of nothingness. Supposedly there are points in space where there is nothing, no matter no nothing. But this can not be true because nothing is something. It is an intangible thing but it is still a thing none the less. In a way the theory proves itself wrong by coming full circle.

Yes there is such a thing as absolute truth. Everything in existance proves to be true, it is our own imperfections and senses that don't allow us to see it.

For instance, the idea there is no free will is probable, and certainly could be an absolute truth. It is my own imperfection and senses that do not allow me to see it for what it truly is though.