Part One
No doubt Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle’s warning that “the country is on the brink of ‘crisis of truth’ and that among its casualties is the common good” is, indeed, appropriate and timely.
“The crisis of truth has sown seeds of suspicion, mistrust and fragmentation. Partisan politics has turned into political ‘tribalization.’ The common good is one of the first casualties,” Tagle said, lamenting, at the same time, the continued spread of fake news in a letter to Manila’s parishes.
Tagle said some legal experts gave “conflicting interpretations” of basic questions of law as he declared May 20 to 31 as days of prayer, fasting and action “for truth and common good.”
“The country needs renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit,” Tagle said, ordering the ringing of church bells to commemorate Jesus’ death and the praying of the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy in parish churches, chapels, convents, schools, homes and offices.
“We accompany our prayer with fasting. Through fasting we redirect our focus from ourselves and our groups to the community,” Tagle added. In support to Cardinal Tagle’s call, this column humbly provides our readers a guide on how to ascertain the truth.
Judges, philosophers, academicians and researchers over the years have discovered different methods of tests to determine the truth.
However, not all of these methods are by themselves sufficient in distinguishing truth from falsehood.
Knowing the relative value of each test will help our readers make a choice as to what test they will trust and employ in judging the truth or falsity of information.
There are 11 tests of truth widely used by scientists, philosophers and researchers. These are sense perception, feeling, instinct, intuition, customs and traditions, majority decision, authority, correspondence, pragmatism, consistency and coherence.
Sense perception. There are realists who wish to simplify how to know the truth. To them, truth is precisely what the five senses—sight, smell, sound, taste and touch—
depict them to be.
For example, the water is cold to your touch; the ball is round as you see it; sugar is sweet to your taste; and the sound of music is pleasant to your ears. All of these you experience through your senses.
Doubting your senses is to make a fool of yourself and to make yourself appear strange to other people who might even question your sanity. So can you really trust your senses?
The answer is no because your senses at times may not give you the true meaning of things and that there are realities that are beyond your sense perception.
For example, ideals and values cannot be tested by sensation. In short, your sense perceptions are not a good test of truth.
Feeling. It’s natural that you would rather follow the dictates of your feeling than listen to your rationalizing mind. Instead of being guided by logical connections or by cause-and-effect relations, you are easily swayed by your hunches or premonitions, which are nothing but a strong feeling of something that is bound to happen or may not happen at all.
While feeling is important for your existence, it cannot be used as a test of truth. For it is neither clear nor precise and is easily influenced by the condition of your health, your mood, your environment and many other factors.
Customs and traditions. Customs are described as behavioral and are commonly practiced by members of a social group, while traditions are defined as customs which have been preserved for generations and have greater influence on one’s ways of thinking and
doing things.
For instance, to meet the desire of a social group, such as families and religious congregations, certain
beliefs had been developed to regulate and control the behavior of its members in order to have unity, stability and security, e.g., how to behave in solemn occasions, how to treat foreign guests, what to do when disasters occur and how to treat children.
In fiesta celebrations, it is traditional to be hospitable to anyone who will come to your house. Customs and traditions then, although they served certain needs of individuals and groups, are not valid tests of what is true or false.
Instinct. One kind of instinct is inborn; another is inherited and acquired. Both can be modified by intelligence and experience. Still, while instinct gives us some semblance of the truth, it cannot be trusted as a reliable source of truth.
As with feeling, instinct is not precise. Indeed, it is usually in conflict with feelings. For instance, love and hate are both instincts; so is jealousy. To rely, therefore, on instinct is to undermine the progress of philosophical and scientific studies most of which are beyond what is instinctive.
Intuition, some say, is a reliable test of truth. Actually, it is only one source of truth. And it is difficult to check the validity of intuitive experience. Intuition can only be verified through a cumbersome laboratory test. It may even happen that while you wait for the test result, misfortunes, such as typhoons, earthquakes or war may have already overtaken events.
To be continued
To reach the writer, e-mail cecilio.arillo@gmail.com.