I said I was coming back to complete my rantings. The forces that be ganged up in their numbers to make sure my desire was thwarted. however, I have succeeded at last, and here I am to complete my oracle. The issue of what truth is has often been the subject of various treatises by philosophers and other people of like minds. I am not a philosopher, though I cannot deny that I have often, not once, not twice, indulged in critical thinking, if this can be called “philosophizing”…my friend @_missward knows more about philosophy and she’ll be sure to say if I’m on track or not! However, that will not be done today. When I finish scribbling what I want, the critics can then come in and have a field day. God forbid that I write a perfect article, it is not my desire to put the critics out of work!
Now to the matter at hand. Truth as it were, is another concept that does not enjoy the comfort of a settled definition. In fact I had to take a stroll to Wikipedia to find out what they knew… here is what they told me.
“Truth is most often used to mean in accord with fact or reality,[1] or fidelity to an original or to a standard or ideal. The opposite of truth is falsehood, which, correspondingly, can also take on a logical, factual, or ethical meaning. The concept of truth is discussed and debated in several contexts, including philosophy and religion. Many human activities depend upon the concept, which is assumed rather than a subject of discussion, including science, law, and everyday life”
By the way, this is not a textbook, nor a paper for journal publication, hence my referencing style will be chosen by me, I have no dealings with APA or MLA or any of their brothers! Now back to the matter, it should be noted that the extract above gives no heads as to what the exclusive definition of what truth is. A voyage into deciphering what the exclusive definition of truth is will confuse both the seeker and concept itself. If you doubt me, ask Kant, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Hegel and other dead men!
Why did I have to go round all these circles? The fact is that though the philosophers will not let us have a simple definition of truth, I would see truth to be a factor that is “as it is”. It does not require any extraneous factor to give it a shape. It exists as it is on its own, as real as it gets! I know I have just given the philosophers something else to attack.
The issue is that what appears to be lacking in the society is the “truth”. No matter how feeble my attempt at zooming at the concept of truth is, we all have a clear innate view of what is called the truth. Before I continue, I can remember that there is a portion of the scripture (The Holy Bible) that says, “and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free” sadly, I can’t remember the exact verse. @ete_ubom can help out here! I have often said, that there are two places that the truth cannot be ignored, the University-1, the Church-2. Talking about the way forward, one cannot undervalue the position of telling ourselves the truth at all times. Are we telling ourselves the truth when we plagiarize freely with reckless abandon in course of writing projects and seminar papers? What truth exists on a result board when half of the people who had As are those who either parted with some money, gave a piece of their flesh, or gave the said lecturers uncommon favours? What truth are we talking about when Union leaders freely misappropriate their union funds? What truth is there to show in a situation whereby Student Union elections are won, not by free and fair voting, but by aggressive rigging and violence? I ask, what truth are we speaking? The truth that we are so grossly incapable of keeping our filthy desires in check? or that greed has hijacked the society? or that violence is now our bedfellows in our campuses? As I said sometime ago to a couple of friends, Telling ourselves the truth doesn’t solve all. But it sure puts us in a position to solve all. Sadly, here is a country where we know the truth, we know that we are not supposed to be corrupt, we know these practices are wrong, then why are we not free? Why? because knowledge comes with responsibility, but we have vowed to be irresponsible as long as we continue to wallow in hedonistic circles. The truth is, its high time we told ourselves that if we do not rise up to save our country, our knowledge (as unprofitable as it is now) will return to haunt us later. Knowing the truth is one thing, taking responsibility is another, but rising up to act in order to correct the society is the only worthy action.
