Foucault Empiricism: The Concept Of Truth, And The Truth

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The concept of truth has been a major topic for discussions and discourses, there are multiple theories based on truth. In the works of G. E. Moore and Bertrand Russell truth is defined as facts, and corresponds to the way things actually are. Moore defines it as “[there is no] difference between truth and the reality to which it is supposed to correspond” (Glanzberg, 2016). Another concept of truth is called the “absolute truth”, many philosophers argue that there is no absolute truth. The reason for their being no absolute truth vary from ideas like truth is subjective to people, truth is a matter of opinion and that truth is relative to different cultures, traditions and religions (Glanzberg, 2016). Another renowned philosopher Foucault …show more content…

Empiricists claim that knowledge does not directly originate from reason, but it originates from experience. Empiricists also believe in reason, but assert that reason is a way to augment knowledge that derives from experiences. Empiricists contend that reality is the essence which produces theory through experience. This makes empiricism a reductionist epistemology as well as it reduces the idea of truth to experiences (Resnick & Wolff, 1987). One can argue that our thoughts literally contribute to our experiences and similarly our experiences help us to constitute our thoughts. Both events are connected to each other and each event helps to shape the other. This implies neither empiricism nor rationalism can be utilized as a fair way to deliver the …show more content…

They think that each theory is based on different aspects and represents different truths, which are not absolute truths. Other than that, since a theory is a process taking place in society it undergoes constant changes and does not stay constant (Resnick & Wolff, 1987). This shows that since theories evolve with time the truth they represent at one point may change at another point in time therefore it can be argued that any epistemology or theory can never fully represent the truth, be it rationalism, empiricism or overdetermination. One can take the example of a common misconception people had during the ancient times which was that the Earth is flat and people can fall off if they go near the corners of the Earth. This idea during that time was considered as a truth but it was later proven by science that the Earth is anything but flat. Today people believe in the fact that the Earth is spherical, this shows how a truth may transform with the passage of

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