The relative nature of truth. Relative truth

Absolute and relative truth- philosophical concepts that reflect the historical process of cognition of objective reality. In contrast to metaphysics, which proceeds from the premise of the immutability of human knowledge and accepts every truth as a once-for-all given, ready-made result of knowledge, dialectical materialism considers knowledge as a historical protest of movement from ignorance to the banner, from knowledge of individual phenomena, individual aspects of reality to a deeper and complete BAND, to the discovery of ever new laws of development.
The process of learning about the world and its laws is as endless as the endless development of nature and society. Our knowledge at each given stage of the development of science is determined by the historically achieved level of knowledge, the level of development of technology, industry, etc. With the further development of knowledge and practice, human ideas about nature are deepened, refined, and improved.

Because of this, the truths learned by science at one or another historical stage cannot be considered final or complete. They are, by necessity, relative truths, that is, truths that need further development, further verification and clarification. Thus, the atom was considered indivisible until the beginning of the 20th century, when it was proven that it, in turn, consists of electrons and electrons The electronic theory of the structure of matter represents a deepening and expansion of our knowledge of matter.Modern ideas about the atom differ significantly in their depth from those that arose at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.
Our knowledge about (see) has especially deepened. But what is now known to science regarding the structure of matter is not the last and final truth: “...dialectical materialism insists on the temporary, relative, approximate nature of all these milestones in the knowledge of nature by the progressive science of man. The electron is as inexhaustible as the atom, nature is infinite...”

Truths are also relative in the sense that they are filled with specific historical content, and therefore changes in historical conditions inevitably lead to changes in truth. What is true in some historical conditions ceases to be true in other conditions. For example, the position of Marx and Engels about the impossibility of the victory of socialism in one country was true during the period of pre-monopoly capitalism. Under the conditions of imperialism, this position ceased to be correct - Lenin created a new theory of socialist revolution, a theory about the possibility of building socialism in one or several countries and the impossibility of its simultaneous victory in all countries.

Emphasizing the relative nature of scientific truths, dialectical materialism at the same time believes that each relative truth means a step in the knowledge of absolute truth, that each step of scientific knowledge contains elements of absolute, i.e. complete, truth, which cannot be refuted in the future. There is no uncrossable line between relative and absolute truth. The totality of relative truths in their development gives absolute truth. Dialectical materialism recognizes the relativity of all our knowledge not in the sense of denying truth, but only in the sense that we cannot at any given moment cognize it completely, exhaust it all. This proposition of dialectical materialism about the nature of relative truths is of fundamental importance. The development of science leads to the fact that more and more new concepts and ideas about the external world are constantly emerging, which replace some old, outdated concepts and ideas.

Idealists use this inevitable and natural moment in the process of cognition to prove the impossibility of the existence of objective truth, to push through the idealistic fabrication that the external material world does not exist, that the world is only a complex of sensations. Since truths are relative, idealists say, it means that they are nothing more than subjective ideas and arbitrary constructions of man; This means that behind a person’s sensations there is nothing, no objective world, or we cannot know anything about it. This charlatan device of idealists is widely used in modern bourgeois philosophy with the aim of replacing science with religion, fideism. Dialectical materialism exposes the tricks of idealists. The fact that this truth cannot be considered final, complete, does not indicate that it does not reflect the objective world, is not an objective truth, but that this process of reflection is complex, depends on the historically existing level of development of science, that absolute the truth cannot be known immediately.

Enormous credit for developing this issue belongs to Lenin, who exposed the Machists’ attempts to reduce the recognition of relative truth to the denial of the external world and objective truth, to the denial of absolute truth. “The contours of the picture (that is, the picture of nature described by science - Ed.) are historically conditional, but what is certain is that this picture depicts an objectively existing model. It is historically conditional when and under what conditions we advanced in our knowledge of the essence of things before the discovery of alizarin in coal tar or before the discovery of electrons in the atom, but what is certain is that each such discovery is a step forward of “unconditionally objective knowledge.” In a word, every ideology is historically conditional, but what is certain is that every scientific ideology (unlike, for example, a religious one) corresponds to an objective truth, an absolute nature.”

Therefore, the recognition of absolute truth is the recognition of the existence of the external objective world, the recognition that our knowledge reflects objective truth. To recognize objective truth, that is, independent of man and humanity, Marxism teaches, means one way or another to recognize absolute truth. The whole point is that this absolute truth is learned in parts, in the course of the progressive development of human knowledge. “Human thinking by its nature is capable of and does give us absolute truth, which consists of the sum of relative truths. Each stage in the development of science adds new grains to this sum of absolute truth, but the limits of the truth of each scientific position are relative, being either expanded or narrowed by further growth of knowledge.”

A person gets to know the world, society and himself with one goal - to know the truth. What is truth, how to determine that this or that knowledge is true, what are the criteria of truth? This is what this article is about.

What is truth

There are several definitions of truth. Here are some of them.

• Truth is knowledge that corresponds to the subject of knowledge.
• Truth is a truthful, objective reflection of reality in human consciousness.

Absolute and relative truth

Absolute truth - This is a person’s complete, exhaustive knowledge of something. This knowledge will not be refuted or supplemented with the development of science.

Examples: a person is mortal, two and two are four.

Relative truth - this is knowledge that will be replenished with the development of science, since it is still incomplete and does not fully reveal the essence of phenomena, objects, etc. This happens due to the fact that at this stage of human development, science cannot yet reach the ultimate essence of the subject being studied.

Example: first people discovered that substances consist of molecules, then of atoms, then of electrons, etc. As we see, at every stage of the development of science, the idea of ​​an atom was true, but incomplete, that is, relative.

Difference between absolute and relative truth is how fully a particular phenomenon or object has been studied.

Remember: absolute truth was always first relative. Relative truth can become absolute with the development of science.

Are there two truths?

No, there are no two truths . There may be several points of view on the subject being studied, but the truth is always the same.

What is the opposite of truth?

The opposite of truth is error.

Misconception - this is knowledge that does not correspond to the subject of knowledge, but is accepted as truth. A scientist believes that his knowledge about a subject is true, although he is mistaken.

Remember: lie- Not is the opposite of truth.

Lie is a category of morality. It is characterized by the fact that the truth is hidden for some purpose, although it is known. Z delusion same - this is not a lie, but a sincere belief that knowledge is true (for example, communism is a delusion, such a society cannot exist in the life of mankind, but entire generations of Soviet people sincerely believed in it).

Objective and subjective truth

Objective truth - this is the content of human knowledge that exists in reality and does not depend on a person, on his level of knowledge. This is the whole world that exists around.

For example, much in the world, in the Universe, exists in reality, although humanity has not yet known it, perhaps it will never know it, but it all exists, an objective truth.

Subjective truth - this is the knowledge acquired by humanity as a result of its cognitive activity, this is everything in reality that has passed through the consciousness of man and is understood by him.

Remember: Objective truth is not always subjective, and subjective truth is always objective.

Criteria of truth

Criteria– this is a word of foreign origin, translated from Greek kriterion - a measure for evaluation. Thus, the criteria of truth are the grounds that will allow one to be convinced of the truth, accuracy of knowledge, in accordance with its subject of knowledge.

Criteria of truth

• Sensual experience - the simplest and most reliable criterion of truth. How to determine if an apple is tasty - try it; how to understand that music is beautiful - listen to it; How to make sure that the color of the leaves is green - look at them.
• Theoretical information about the subject of knowledge, that is, theory . Many objects are not amenable to sensory perception. We will never be able to see, for example, the Big Bang, as a result of which the Universe was formed. In this case, theoretical study and logical conclusions will help to recognize the truth.

Theoretical criteria of truth:

1. Compliance with logical laws
2. Correspondence of truth to those laws that were discovered by people earlier
3. Simplicity of formulation, economy of expression

• Practice. This criterion is also very effective, since the truth of knowledge is proven by practical means .(There will be a separate article about practice, follow the publications)

Thus, the main goal of any knowledge is to establish the truth. This is exactly what scientists do, this is what each of us is trying to achieve in life: know the truth , no matter what she touches.

Relative truth is incomplete, limited knowledge about the world. Due to the infinity of the world, the historical limitations of human knowledge, the achieved knowledge about the world and man is always incomplete and inaccurate. The relativity of knowledge should, in particular, be seen in the fact that it is always related to certain conditions, place and time.

Any knowledge, due to its specificity, is always relative.

Absolute truth is complete and accurate knowledge of a subject, this is knowledge about the infinite world as a whole, in all its infinite richness and diversity.

Absolute truth is made up of relative ones, but the sum of relative truths is infinite, therefore, absolute truth is unattainable. Man is constantly approaching the absolute truth, but he will never reach it, because the world is constantly changing. Knowledge of absolute truth would stop the process of knowledge.

Dialectics of concrete, relative, objective and absolute truth.

True knowledge, like the objective world itself, develops according to the laws of dialectics. In the Middle Ages, people believed that the sun and planets revolved around the Earth. Was it a lie or the truth? The fact that a person observed the movement while on the ground led to a false conclusion. Here we can see the dependence of our knowledge on the subject of knowledge. Copernicus argued that the sun was the center of the planetary system. Here the proportion of objective content is greater, but not everything corresponded to objective reality. Kepler showed that the planets revolve around the sun not in circles, but in ellipses. This was even truer, more certain knowledge. From these examples it is clear that objective truth develops historically. With each new discovery its completeness increases.

The form of expression of objective truth, depending on specific historical conditions, is called relative. The entire development of human knowledge, including science, is a constant replacement of some relative truths by others, more fully and accurately expressing the objective truth.

Is it possible to achieve absolute truth? Agnostics answer in the negative, saying that in the process of cognition we deal only with relative truths. And the more complex the phenomenon, the more difficult it is to know the absolute truth. And yet it exists, each relative truth is a step that brings us closer to this goal.

Thus, relative and absolute truths are just different levels of objective truth. The higher the level of our knowledge, the closer we get to the absolute truth. But this process can last indefinitely. This constant process is the most important manifestation of dialectics in the process of cognition.

Truth and error.

I. Truth is an adequate, correct reflection of reality. The value of knowledge is determined by the measure of its truth. Achieving true knowledge is a complex and contradictory process. Naturally, it is possible to obtain different results along this path. A researcher, if we are talking about the search for scientific truth, can not only come to the true result, but also take the wrong path and be mistaken. Therefore, there is no once and for all established line between truth and error. The search for truth is an open process; it contains various possibilities, including the possibility of incorrect, erroneous assessments of what is happening.

Misconception is such knowledge that does not correspond to the essence of the object being cognized, but is recognized as true knowledge. This is a constant element of the development of science. People unconsciously accept this fact, that is, they proceed from empirical experiences. An illustrative example of a fallacy is the Sun moving around the Earth in the pre-Copernican period.

Delusion is not an absolute fiction, a play of the imagination, a figment of fantasy. Misconceptions also reflect, albeit one-sidedly, objective reality; they have a real source, since any fiction contains threads of reality.

Reasons for the objective occurrence of misconceptions:

1) Historical practice, namely, the level of development of science at that time, inadequately perceived facts, their erroneous interpretation. Often, truth becomes a fallacy if the boundaries of truth are not taken into account and one or another true concept extends to all spheres of reality. Misconception can also result from incorrect information.

2) Freedom of choice in research methods. That is, the subject itself imposes a method, a method of research, for example, you cannot study inflation using the method of sensory cognition.

A misconception differs from a lie in that it is unintentional.

In general, error is a natural moment of the cognitive process and is dialectically related to truth. It is necessary to take into account the possibility of misconceptions, without exaggerating or absoluteizing them. Exaggerating the place of errors in knowledge can lead to skepticism and relativism. The outstanding Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate P.L. Kapitsa noted: “...errors are a dialectical way of searching for truth. One should never exaggerate their harm and reduce their benefits.”

Therefore, truth is opposed not so much by error as by falsehood as a deliberate elevation to the rank of truth.

As the practice of mankind has shown, delusion is an integral element of the search for truth. While one discovers the truth, a hundred will remain in error. And in this sense, error represents unwanted, but legitimate costs on the path to achieving the truth.

II. Scientific knowledge is inherently impossible without clashes of different opinions and beliefs, just as it is impossible without errors. Errors are often made during observation, measurement, calculations, judgments, and assessments.

Error.

An error is a discrepancy between knowledge and reality.

Unlike a delusion, an error is realized and committed for subjective reasons:

1) Low qualification of the specialist, 2) Inattention, 3) Haste.

Lie.

III. Lie. Deception. This is a deliberate distortion of reality. That is, the statement that the Sun, and not the Earth, rotates, from the point of view of modern astronomy is false.

Feature: The lie is targeted (either they deceive an individual or the whole society).

Here, knowledge is intentionally or unintentionally, unconsciously distorted, since such distortion turns out to be useful for certain social groups and individuals to achieve group and personal goals, maintain power, achieve victory over an enemy, or justify their own activities. First of all, this concerns knowledge related to socio-historical reality and directly affecting issues of worldview, ideology, politics, etc.

A lie can be either a fabrication about something that did not happen, or a deliberate concealment of something that did happen. The source of lies can also be logically incorrect thinking.

For example, the company “Ivanov and Company” advertises a product that attacks pathogenic bacteria, but at the same time is silent about the contraindications of this product. As a result, the harm from taking this medicine outweighs the benefits; NPP designers hid the possibility of the Chernobyl effect, and not just a few, but hundreds of thousands of people are already suffering.

There are:

1) Blatant lies, that is, intentional. She is the closest thing to deception.

2) Lies of silence, concealment.

3) Half-truth, part is true, but not all. Sometimes it is done intentionally, sometimes unconsciously (perhaps out of ignorance).

Unlike delusion, lying is a moral and legal phenomenon, and therefore the attitude towards lies should be different from that towards delusion.

Truth and truth.

IV. Truth is a person’s conviction in the truth, it is the correspondence of the subject’s statements to his thoughts. Truth is based on truth, but is not reduced to it. That is, there may be one truth, but everyone has their own truth. And the truth is not always an adequate expression of the whole truth. It can act as a special case of truth.

They say that Solomon, after listening to the parties involved in the dispute, declared that each of them was right. He is right as the bearer of his truth.

The problem of the relationship between truth and truth is solved through determining the measure of truth. So, from the point of view of a soldier or officer of the federal troops, the war in Chechnya is a defense of the integrity of Russia. And it is true. From the point of view of a Chechen, the war in Chechnya is the defense of his home. And this is also true. But in both cases this is part of the truth. As for the complete truth, the Chechen phenomenon of confrontation is a commercial war of profit for some and impoverishment for others, dubious happiness for some and inconsolable grief for others.

Social philosophy

Society.

Society – 1) a social form of matter, the substrate functional unit of which is man.

2) a part of the material world isolated from nature, representing the historically developing life activity of people.

3) a complex group of people, united by various types of social connections, determined for a given society by the specific features of existence.

Society as a system consists of spheres of public life.

Human.

Man is a material-social being, a unit of society with an individual social essence. The essence of a person lies in generic characteristics - work and intelligence.

Essential powers of man. 2 concepts:

1) universal; 2) social.

Essence is the most essential, most important thing in an object, its qualitative distinctive characteristic. In general philosophical terms: man is a social universal material being. Social - a person has supernatural properties; universal - all properties of the world are inherent to man. In socio-philosophical terms: man is a social material generic being (similar to the universal BUT the concept of generic reveals that a person has inherent properties that each individual possesses: in every person the human race is represented. In a sense, the individual and the race are identical.).

Essence (difference from nature).

1. Unity of the generic and the individual.

2. Manifests itself in the special existence of man: the production of his own life, generic individual essence through the transformation of nature. The unity of man with the world and with other individuals is revealed.

Entity levels:

I. Actual (real): work, thought (consciousness), communication, freedom and responsibility, individuality and collectivity.

II. Potential. There is an opportunity that can be realized. These are: abilities and needs (to the current level).

The essence of man is divided into:

a) people are biosocial beings - this is not correct, we are physical-chemical-biological beings.

b) why are the 2 principles social and biological equal? ​​This is not so.

2) A person is a subject, a person is both thinking and action, a being, matter can also be designated as a subject, a person is also an object, i.e. what its essence is directed towards. (The most correct definition of Orlov). Man is a being who produces himself and his own essence. Chel is a substance, because he is the cause of himself. Man is a social being. He cannot exist alone. Human essence is the unity of the generic and the individual. The generic is what is characteristic of every person, of all humanity as a whole. We have generic traits that exist only through real individuals. THAT. the essence of people is individuated, it has two sides: subsubstantial and relational

3) Many Soviet philosophers said that the essence of man is the totality of all general relations - Marx wrote this - incorrectly. A person is an objective being, a substance and + people communicate, this is a set of relationships, but not separately - all together - gives us the essence of a person.

The problem of social substrate and social functions. A person has his own functions (work, consciousness, communication) and these functions are carried out by the substrate. The human, social substrate is me, you, we, he, she, they. In the essence of man there is social being and social consciousness (consciousness of society). Social existence is the coexistence of individuals, real life processes. It is not perceived by the senses. Its understanding is only at a theoretical level. In social existence there are 2 sides: 1-we ourselves - has a social quality.

The 2-material elements of society are transformed natural elements included in the elements of society (buildings, cars...), but there is no composite social quality here, they are either phenomena. only because material elements are associated with people.

The crisis nature of human existence has aggravated three fundamental questions of human existence - about the essence of man, the method and meaning of his existence, and the prospects for further development.

Individual.

An individual is a single representative of the human race (can be distinguished by generic characteristics - primitive communal, etc.).

What determines the nature of social relations - the individual or society?

1) The individual himself creates his own social circumstance;

2) A person depends on social circumstances.

There are 2 opposing definitions of an Individual:

The individual is considered as an individual, as a unique person.

An individual is like a person in general.

Both definitions are one-sided and insufficient. It is necessary to develop a 3rd ODA covering the previous two. An individual as a collection of individuals or people. Or as the unity of the general and all the diversity of the particular.

Society is people and their relationships with each other. Society and people are united into one whole by human activity in various forms, and above all material and production. The question arises whether the individual determines the nature of society's life or whether society determines the characteristics of the individual. The formulation of the question is incorrect, -> let's introduce the 3rd formula: people create social circumstances to the same extent as social circumstances create people, i.e. people create etc. and ourselves. Personality is understood as a person who is not like other people (in everyday life). It is necessary to give others positive ODA. Firstly, each individual is a person. Each person is a certain unity of the general and diversity of the particular. The closer a person is to his humanity, the higher his personal potential. The greater the diversity of human abilities represented in an individual, the higher his personal potential. A born child is an individual, but not a human individuality (personality), which is determined by the independence of existence in society. The individual and society are in a dialectically interconnected relationship. They cannot be opposed, because The individual is a social being and every manifestation of his life is a manifestation of societies. life. But it is also impossible to identify the Individual and the Social, because Each individual can also act as an original individual.

Personality.

Personality is the integration of socially significant qualities realized in an individual in a certain way.

If the concept of individuality brings human activity to the level of originality and uniqueness, versatility and harmony, naturalness and ease, then the concept of personality emphasizes the conscious-volitional principle in it. The more an individual deserves the right to be called a person, the more clearly he understands the motives of his behavior and the more strictly he controls it, subordinating it to a single life strategy.

The word “personality” (from the Latin persona) originally meant a mask worn by an actor in the ancient theater (cf. Russian “lichina”). Then it came to mean the actor himself and his role (character). Among the Romans, the word “persona” was used only to indicate a certain social function, role, role (personality of the father, personality of the king, judge, prosecutor, etc.). Having turned into a term, into a general expression, the word “personality” significantly changed its meaning and even began to express something opposite to what was meant by it in ancient times. A personality is a person who does not play the role he has chosen, and is not in any sense a “actor.” The social role (say, the role of healer, researcher, artist, teacher, father) is taken absolutely seriously by him; he takes it upon himself as a mission, as a cross - freely, but with a willingness to bear the fullness of the responsibility associated with this role.

The concept of personality makes sense only in a system of social mutual recognition, only where we can talk about a social role and a set of roles. At the same time, however, it does not presuppose the originality and diversity of the latter, but, first of all, the individual’s specific understanding of his role, an internal attitude towards it, free and interested (or vice versa - forced and formal) performance of it.

A person as an individual expresses himself in productive actions, and his actions interest us only to the extent that they receive an organic objective embodiment. The opposite can be said about personality: it is actions that are interesting in it. The very achievements of the individual (for example, labor achievements, discoveries, creative successes) are interpreted by us primarily as actions, that is, deliberate, voluntary behavioral acts. A personality is the initiator of a sequential series of life events, or, as M. M. Bakhtin accurately defined it, “the subject of action.” The dignity of a person is determined not so much by how much a person has succeeded, whether he has succeeded or not, but by what he has taken responsibility for, what he allows himself to impute.

The semantic similarity of the terms “individuality” and “personality” leads to the fact that they are often used as unambiguous, replacing each other. At the same time (and this is the main thing), the concepts of individuality and personality capture different aspects of human self-construction.

The essence of this difference is already captured in ordinary language. We tend to associate the word “individuality” with such epithets as “bright” and “original.” About personality we would like to say “strong”, “energetic”, “independent”. In individuality we note its originality, in personality it is rather independence, or, as psychologist S. L. Rubinstein wrote, “a person is an individuality due to the presence of special, individual, unique properties... a person is a person because he has his own face" and because even in the most difficult trials of life he does not lose this face.

Related information.

In the section on the question Give specific examples of absolute and relative truth. given by the author power station The best answer is that the Earth rotates - this is the absolute truth. And statements that it rotates at a certain speed are relative truth, since they depend on how this speed is measured.

Answer from Maxisan137[guru]
On a relative level everything is true, on an absolute level everything is false.

Answer from wolverine[guru]
lies and truth

Answer from Vad Dementyev[guru]
Another topic for you!
Absolute truth - We live on earth. You and I are people. We know how to talk.
Relative - I think Britney Spears is beautiful.
That is, you understand that the absolute is something that is stupid and pointless to dispute; this has long been proven.
This is done in the 10th grade in general.

Answer from Neuropathologist[guru]
There is no such thing - this is a person’s perception - for one it is the truth and for another the same thing is a lie

Answer from Richter[guru]
2+2=4 is the absolute truth
We are not alone in the Universe - this is a relative truth.
Most often, people make mistakes about absolute truths, for example, Margarita Evlakhova believes that the absolute truth is God, but does he really exist? Therefore, most truths are relative.

Answer from Gennady Demchukov[guru]
Your image in the mirror (without “extra” conventions) will absolutely accurately convey your portrait, but relative to you, the “reflection”’s right side will be on the left.

Answer from Anton Kuropatov[guru]
God's law is absolute truth. Secular morality and state laws are relative truths.

Answer from Karen Guyumjyan[guru]
absolute=relative=limited, there is no such truth, for there is one truth, its name is single infinity, the eternal ideal is perfection.

Lecture:

Truth, objective and subjective

From the previous lesson you learned that knowledge about the world around us can be obtained through cognitive activity using the senses and thinking. Agree, a person interested in certain objects and phenomena wants to receive reliable information about them. Truth is important to us, that is, truth, which is a universal human value. What is truth, what are its types and how to distinguish truth from lies we will look at in this lesson.

Basic term of the lesson:

True– this is knowledge that corresponds to objective reality.

What does this mean? Objects and phenomena of the surrounding world exist on their own and do not depend on human consciousness, therefore objects of knowledge are objective. When a person (subject) wants to study or research something, he passes the subject of knowledge through consciousness and derives knowledge that corresponds to his own worldview. And, as you know, each person has his own worldview. This means that two people studying the same subject will describe it differently. That's why knowledge about the subject of knowledge is always subjective. That subjective knowledge that corresponds to the objective subject of knowledge and is true.

Based on the above, one can distinguish objective and subjective truth. ABOUTobjective truth is called knowledge about objects and phenomena, describing them as they really are, without exaggeration or understatement. For example, MacCoffee is coffee, gold is metal. Subjective truth, on the contrary, refers to knowledge about objects and phenomena that depends on the opinions and assessments of the subject of knowledge. The statement “MacCoffee is the best coffee in the world” is subjective, because I think so, and some people don’t like MacCoffee. Common examples of subjective truth are omens that cannot be proven.

Truth is absolute and relative

Truth is also divided into absolute and relative.

Every scientist strives to get as close as possible to the absolute truth. However, often due to the insufficiency of methods and forms of knowledge, a scientist is able to establish only relative truth. Which, with the development of science, is confirmed and becomes absolute, or refuted and turns into error. For example, the knowledge of the Middle Ages that the Earth was flat with the development of science was refuted and began to be considered a delusion.

There are very few absolute truths, much more relative ones. Why? Because the world is changing. For example, a biologist studies the number of animals listed in the Red Book. While he is conducting this research, the numbers are changing. Therefore, it will be very difficult to calculate the exact number.

!!! It is a mistake to say that absolute and objective truth are one and the same. This is wrong. Both absolute and relative truth can be objective, provided that the subject of knowledge has not adjusted the research results to his personal beliefs.

Criteria of truth

How to distinguish truth from error? For this purpose, there are special means of testing knowledge, which are called criteria of truth. Let's look at them:

• The most important criterion is practice – This is an active subject activity aimed at understanding and transforming the world around us.. Forms of practice are material production (for example, labor), social action (for example, reforms, revolutions), scientific experiment. Only practically useful knowledge is considered true. For example, based on certain knowledge, the government carries out economic reforms. If they give the expected results, then the knowledge is true. Based on knowledge, the doctor treats the patient; if he is healed, then the knowledge is true. Practice as the main criterion of truth is part of knowledge and performs the following functions: 1) practice is the source of knowledge, because it is it that pushes people to study certain phenomena and processes; 2) practice is the basis of knowledge, because it permeates cognitive activity from beginning to end; 3) practice is the goal of knowledge, because knowledge of the world is necessary for the subsequent application of knowledge in reality; 4) practice, as already mentioned, is a criterion of truth necessary to distinguish truth from error and lies.

• Compliance with the laws of logic. Knowledge obtained through evidence should not be confusing or internally contradictory. It must also be logically consistent with well-tested and reliable theories. For example, if someone puts forward a theory of heredity that is fundamentally incompatible with modern genetics, one can assume that it is not true.

• Compliance with fundamental scientific laws . New knowledge must comply with Eternal laws. Many of which you study in the lessons of mathematics, physics, chemistry, social studies, etc. These are such as the Law of Universal Gravitation, the Law of Conservation of Energy, the Periodic Law of Mendeleev D.I., the Law of Supply and Demand and others. For example, the knowledge that the Earth is kept in orbit around the Sun corresponds to I. Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation. Another example, if the price of linen fabric increases, then the demand for this fabric decreases, which corresponds to the Law of Supply and Demand.

• Compliance with previously open laws . Example: Newton's first law (law of inertia) corresponds to the law previously discovered by G. Galileo, according to which a body remains at rest or moves uniformly and rectilinearly as long as it is influenced by forces that force the body to change its state. But Newton, unlike Galileo, examined the movement more deeply, from all points.

For the greatest reliability of testing knowledge for truth, it is best to use several criteria. Statements that do not meet the criteria of truth are misconceptions or lies. How are they different from each other? Misconception is knowledge that actually does not correspond to reality, but the subject of knowledge does not know about it until a certain moment and accepts it as truth. A lie is a conscious and intentional distortion of knowledge when the subject of knowledge wants to deceive someone.

Exercise: Write in the comments your examples of truth: objective and subjective, absolute and relative. The more examples you give, the more help you will provide to graduates! After all, it is the lack of specific examples that makes it difficult to correctly and completely solve the tasks of the second part of the CMM.