One of the longest- running debates in philosophy is whether it is possible to discover any objective truth, or whether all knowledge is relative to the subject.

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Is it possible to discover any objective truth, or is all knowledge subject to relativism?

In this essay, I aim to provide evidence through the exploration of early Greek philosophy literature, that it is possible to discover some objective knowledge.

I will briefly describe the development of philosophy and look at the various theories of objective knowledge and relativism, with emphasis on philosophers such as, Protagoras, Socrates, and Plato.

Buy cheap One of the longest- running debates in philosophy is whether it is possible to discover any objective truth, or whether all knowledge is relative to the subject. term paper

I will pose a number of questions including

Does all knowledge come from experience?

Can relativism sustain high moral standards?

These questions and others will I hope lead to a better understanding of these two perspectives.

...Logical thought is alone true knowledge (Plato, Republic)

Brief history of philosophy

Before philosophy took root in ancient Greece, the view of the world was very different.

People saw themselves as the centre of reality.

The Greek Gods were very much like them and took an avid interest in what they did in their everyday lives.

The world was a place for human beings to conquer and explore.The first philosophers saw the world in a new light.

They did not think reality necessarily centred around human beings.

People were just a small part of a bigger picture.

The world was a source of questions How does the world work?

What is it made of?

This study of the world became known as cosmology, it had little to do with peoples everyday lives.

It progressed through various theories with Thales believing that the world was based on water, while Heraclitus said it was made of fire, whereas Pythagoras stated it was an embodiment of numbers.

Although initially these philosophers focused on cosmology, it was not long before they began concentrating on human-orientated ideas.

This made way for a group of philosophers known as the Sophists.

SOPHISTS

Their main concern was political issues and how individuals could gain from interaction with others.

They believed that people should do whatever it takes to become successful, and this form of behaviour could be different for different people.

This is known as relativism.

The Sophists were as such the first relativist philosophers.PROTAGORAS AND REALTIVISMProtagoras was a sophist who thought that the Gods were inaccessible to human knowledge.

In modern terms we might say that he displays the attitude of a Secular humanist who is agnostic about God, and who promotes human freedom and responsibility (Cleary, 00 -6)

The most famous work by Protagoras was entitled Truth.

In this piece he seems to deny the possibility of any objective truth, this is reflected in the following quote

Man is the measure of all things, of things that are as to how they are, and of things that are not as to how they are not

The overall meaning of this quote suggests that whatever appears true to each person is actually true for that person.

Does this doctrine actually make sense?

Surely if everyones opinion is equally valid and true, then how can Protagoras be an authority on any subject if his opinion can be contradicted by someone else with a point that is also valid?

GEORGIASAnother dominant figure in Athens was Georgias.

He had a unique style of public speaking, which captivated his audience, yet he also felt that human beings could not grasp the idea or concept of reality as our language binds us.

He used the example of many words referring to the same thing.

Georgias states Between language and reality there is a gulf which humans can not cross because we live in a realm of opinion

For Georgias the use of rhetoric was political.

There was no evidence to presume that he cared about the moral value of his listeners decisions.

Both Protagoras and Georgias seem to think that people can be persuaded to change their minds via a good speaker or adapt themselves to fit in with their peers or society.

With this in mind, can relativism sustain high moral standards?

Judging by the evidence from Georgias and Protagoras human beings can be persuaded to go against their original belief and accommodate a new one whether it is morally just or not.

One can argue of course that we frequently do live in accordance with our beliefs and moral judgements, but there may be subjective preferences or expressions of feelings.

The outcome is, does it matter what people believe, or does it matter what they believe about belief?RELATIVISM - What is it?We can not assume that relativism means the same thing to everyone.

What we can deduce is that different individuals and groups can have different standards for how to act.

In this view nature does not decide how people behave, but individuals make their own decisions, persuading others of a truth whether in fact it is true or not.

This is still very important today, some examples are found in Politicians, Doctors, Professors each one in their own way convince us of a certain truth regardless of fact.

If relativism seems void of moral standards then can we presume objective truth or knowledge exists?SOCRATESNot all philosophers believed that justice was a vehicle for self-centred people.

Socrates was very much an opponent of sophistic thinking.

He is most famous for his method of teaching rather than what he actually taught.

He used a method called elenchus, which depended on forcing his opponent to say what he believed, and then going step by step through the implications of these beliefs, the initial definition then leads to a contradiction and so is no longer true.

Truth is something we all approve of and aim to achieve, but what is it?

Anything we say may be criticised in many ways, only one of which is for failing to state the truth. Failure to do that seems somehow to be the most basic kind of failure.

Is truth a relation between what we say and the subject we say it about? Again, we are back to relativism.

For Socrates, definition was not simply logical; it was moral as well. He allowed people to think more carefully about their ideas of virtue.

Socrates was a humanist, but his questions sought single, absolute answers, a universal notion of justice. He says to Crito in Euthydemus But what is this knowledge and what are we to do with it? For it is not the source of any works, which are neither good nor evil, or of any knowledge, but the knowledge of itself. What then can it be, and what are we to do with it? Shall we say Crito, that it is the knowledge by which we are to make other men good?

Socrates held a passionate belief that knowledge was possible. He felt that once the half-thought-out ideas that individuals hold were cleared away, then a search for the truth could begin.PLATO

Most of what we know of Socrates ideas come in the guise of Plato and his dialogues which have Socrates as a central figure.

Sometimes its hard to know where Socrates ends and Plato begins.

Plato went beyond the Socratic method of refutation when he introduced the method of hypothesis that is found in the Meno and Phaedo dialogues.

In the Meno Plato introduces the idea that virtue is knowledge and he proposes that there should be teachers of it. If there are no genuine teachers of virtue, then it seems that virtue can not be the same thing as knowledge contrary to what Socrates thought (Cleary,00 5-)

Plato felt that we are all born with an understanding of ideal reality. The problem is, most of us forget what we were born knowing because the appearance of things fools us. Although we may forget ideal reality, we can sometimes remember it again. Plato called this anamnesis to explain how we can know things even if we have never experienced them.

Platos dialogues created an ingenious device for the examination of ideas, the purpose of which is to draw us in to the conversation.

Platonic thinking recognised that human science and technology can discover how things work, what it can not do is tell us why.

Is it then possible to teach all forms of knowledge?

I think for Plato, knowledge is what has a precise content of which we can give a definition. In the Meno if something for example, virtue is knowledge, then can it be taught? Real knowledge for Plato, had to be of the abstract and eternal. Plato is often called a rationalist, someone who believes we can know true ideas without ever learning them from experience.

CONCLUSIONThis essay is just an overview of the theories of relativism and objective knowledge. Just as our perception of reality is bound by our language, this essay is bound by word-count.

In conclusion, it seems that relativism takes the view that there are no fixed or absolute standards in relation to knowledge about the world, moral behaviour and many other aspects of human life. The problem with this is that the behaviour of some people is so extreme and unpleasant to society that it is difficult to reconcile this with it being just another relativist form of human conduct.

Greek philosophy is ultimately not about facts or answers; it is about discussion - the give and take of ideas. Platos use of dialogue demonstrates this.

If there are flaws in relativism, then is objective knowledge a possibility?

It seems apparent that objective truth is something inherent in human beings. On the surface, there are many convincing reasons for thinking that all knowledge comes from experience, yet the thought that knowledge can only come from experience leaves the possibility of empirical knowledge virtually out of the question. Socrates says that true belief and knowledge guide correctly and that if man possesses these, he gives correct guidance.

It seems although individuals do adapt to society, they hold true to themselves as human beings and in turn use this as an invisible measure by which to live by.

The evidence for the possibility of objective knowledge can be somewhat vague but it seems to have fewer flaws than relativism. Although I have not proved that there is objective truth this was my aim at the start of the essay. There is enough substantiation to suggest its existence.

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