The Certainty of Truth

The way we know things can vary greatly across different areas of knowledge. Not are different methodologies used to come to conclusions,  how we know what is claimed to be true can also vary greatly. One area of knowledge I’d like to discuss is the natural sciences, which seeks to find the laws and explanations to said laws from phenomenon around us. The methodology for developing knowledge in this area is to test a hypothesis with an experiment. Experiments often include physically conducting it, and using our senses to perceive and observe what occurs, and in conjunction with reasoning to deduce conclusions as to why certain things happen. This doesn’t however instantly make a finding true, it must first undergo the process of peer review: Other researchers in this context, review the experiment and data, and how conclusions were drawn from such data. This gives confirmation to people that more than one person is confirming the validity of the information. This allows us to maintain a certain standard towards each other and aims to be critical on what kind of scientific conclusions can be made or perhaps how the research was conducted. But what if everyone accepts something as true, can we assume it must be true? Another big aspect is included here, the ability to falsify a hypothesis. When you test a hypothesis, you are testing to disprove something. By failing to disprove a theory several times, it thereby implies that this theory is closer to the truth. But this could potentially mean if we can’t further question a theory or hypothesis, we can never with a hundred percent certainty state that a theory is the complete truth.

Another area of knowledge I find quite interesting is that of mathematics. Mathematics is different in that it is a system we have developed for our own purposes, and has defined ‘laws’ or rather axioms, a mathematical statement that is accepted as true. Without having accepted said axioms, there is no possibility to begin constructing more complicated theories within the different areas of mathematics. By using these basic truths, through the process of deductive reasoning, humans are able to prove theorems and discern other truths. You could compare the process of creating hypothesis with mathematicians seeking more complex truths, but because we are not necessarily seeking observations in the form of causation through our sense perception in the environment around us, it could be said that the logical deductions in mathematics are much easier to claim as true.

Because we created these set of rules out from our own imagination, if what is proposed fits within the axioms, it can be presumed to be true. Obviously mathematical findings still require academic rigor in the form of peer review. By having many people critique mathematical findings of solutions, it gains credibility and can be understood to be true. But this level of certainty is only applicable when outside of relations to the ‘real world’, because as soon as mathematics is used in other contexts such as in science, it becomes a model to represent said data/ contexts, and isn’t necessarily going to be completely the truth.

#AOK #TOK #NaturalSciences #naturalsciences #maths #reflections