'Can literature “tell the truth” better than other Arts or Areas of Knowledge? Essay Essay\r'

'Even as children, volume atomic number 18 on a perpetual quest for â€Å"the justness.” Anyone who has witnessed a toddler incessantly affect his m diametric â€Å"Why?” tolerate attest to that. Writers, artists, and scientists either throw methods of finding â€Å" equity” and telling it to others. spell the standards for what truth can be vary mingled with Areas of friendship, no Area of fellowship is significantly more adapted-bodied of telling the â€Å"truth” than another. Since each lastledge base is strictly a tender-hearted enterprise, they all locution difficulties created by human nature, which names them all equally cap fitting (or incapable) of telling the truth.\r\nBefore the effectiveness of dissimilar Areas of Knowledge in conveying truth can be evaluated, how perpetually, it is necessary to define truth, or rather, to clarify its nature. Typically, passel rely on their senses, observations, and information taken f rom sources they study to be reputable to learn of the truth. History has sh throw repeatedly, though, that â€Å" harsh sense,” authority, and consensus gentium are not always the most authoritative methods of obtaining truth.\r\nFor instance, from the 2nd century until the l6th century, people believed in the Ptolemaic system with the Earth as the center of the cosmea and all of the planets and stars revolving approximately it. The idea excessively corresponded healthful with people’s personal observations of the Earth as stable and the stars and planets as moving and was even support by the Catholic Church. Today, however, we fill out (or at least, we rally we know), that the Ptolemaic system is incorrect and that the Earth and other planets in our solar system revolve around the sun.\r\nWhat people thought to be true rachis then because of â€Å"obvious” reasons turned out to be false after all. Can on that point ever be an unconditional truth the n? And if at that place is, is there whatever way for man to know it and to be certain that he knows? For the foreseeable future, or for possibly all eternity, I believe that absolute truth, if it exists, is beyond our grasp. After all, humans ingest in any case many limitations, such as senses that can be deceived. thither is no way for humans to know with absolute certainty that what they believe is true, even if it is true.\r\nThere always exists the possibility that what we believe to be the truth is not actually the truth. Furthermore, beliefs, experience, and other factors cause disparate people to have divers(prenominal) truths. A psycho thinks his delusions are true, tho sane people dispose to believe otherwise. Outside the realm of philosophy, however, this concept of a lack of an absolute truth becomes impractical and cumbersome. As C.S. Peirce said, â€Å"Let us not pretend to interrogative sentence in philosophy what we do not doubt in our he arts.” T hus, when addressing the ability of books, other Arts, and other Areas of Knowledge in conveying truth, truth essential be thought of in a different, pragmatic way.\r\nThe standards get dressed for truth can change, though, across Areas of Knowledge. In publications (in reference to freshs, poetry, and other writings aside from scientific and historical nonfiction literary marchs), the author tries to convey his own truth. That is, the message or the â€Å"truth” of the work is fasten inexorably to what the author believes to be the truth, and thus is pillowcase to all the factors that have influenced the author. Many great(p) kit and boodle of literature illustrate this idea, such as â€Å" moderate Harold”…and the Boys.\r\nIf Athol Fugard had had a different life where he had not acted wrongly towards his childhood friend and felt nefarious for the racist act afterwards, his masterpiece would have had a decidedly different view on the â€Å"truth ” of racism. The corresponding(p) idea holds true for authors within the fantasy realism genre of literature, such as Gabriel Garcia Márquez and Isabel Allende. In their purification, events such as people levitating in the air are conside carmine perfectly innate(p). What others outside of their culture think of as figments of their imaginations, they think of as truth and as the truth. As such, truth in literature varies from one author to another.\r\nTruth also varies in this way in other Arts. An artist, like a writer, tries to convey his insights about the world. No matter how he does it, it is he who decides what the truth of his work is. As a result, other arts are like literature in that everything affecting the artist affects the â€Å"truth” of the work. The foreland then is whether literature or other arts are better at conveying what the occasion believes to be true. Both grammatical case the same puzzle here in that they are open for meter read ing by the audience. Thus, the viewer or listener’s background, beliefs, and other variables play into how well the artist’s â€Å"truth” can be told.\r\nTwo different people can read the same newfangled or look at the same pic and uncover different truths. For instance, the book The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald ends with the line, â€Å"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” An bullish reader whitethorn gather from this line and the rest period of the novel that Fitzgerald is emphasizing the â€Å"truth” that perseverance in the tone of difficulties may be difficult barely is necessary, while a more pessimistic reader may think Fitzgerald is revealing that some of humanistic discipline’ efforts are just futile and worthless. few may even say that other arts face even more difficult problems in this honor because the artist does not write down his/her message, but must(prenominal) i nstead convey it indirectly by invoking feelings.\r\nThis â€Å"problem” with other arts, however, is actually dependent upon the audience. For instance, a concerto is much more likely to be able to â€Å"tell the truth” to a child with a limited vocabulary than a Charles Dickens’ novel is. It may be countered, though, that other arts have an advantage over literature in that they necessity not be deliverd for various cultures. It is difficult to provide and capture the essence of a literary masterpiece (especially with poetry) because words have connotations that may not translate into other languages. In some cases, the word does not even exist in another language. For instance, the Lusitanian word saudade has no equivalent in face because no English word carries the same follow of emotion. other Arts, however, actually do face this same intercultural challenge because figures or sounds vary in moment from one culture to another. The color red symboli zes replete(p) luck to the Chinese and permeates their artwork.\r\nIn some split of Africa, however, red is strictly a religious symbol that cannot even be worn on clothing. As such, a piece of art that uses the color red heavily and whose message is not clearly unambiguous may be interpreted in different ways. Therefore, both literature and other Arts face the same problems when it comes to the audience and their interpretations. That is not to say, however, that neither literature nor other Arts have a great influence on the masses; often times, it is scarce the opposite. It is highly unlikely, though, that literature and other arts are always able to successfully â€Å"tell the truth,” or in this case, what the writer or artist believes is the truth, to everyone. The natural sciences, however, differ from literature and other arts when it comes to the truth.\r\nThe â€Å"truth” in science cannot be taken as the scientist’s individual truth, as it can be w ith the author or poet or artist, but must rather fit set standards. The scientist’s biases and prejudices must be taken into account and other scientists have to critically evaluate the evidence before any research can be considered to be â€Å"true.” information faces a problem with truth, however, when it comes to interpreting info. Scientists are able to legitimately ignore some variables in their studies, such as whether or not the participants in a study of how effective a new interference for cancer is have blue or brownness eyes. Other variables are simply beyond their throw though, and may affect the outcome of the study, like the diets of the aforementioned(prenominal) participants.\r\nThese variables affect not only the research, but also whether or not people believe the results. both(prenominal) may see the inability to control the patients’ diets as a reason to invalidate some conclusions. Furthermore, different people can interpret the same data and come to two conflicting conclusions. There are people who look at the same environmental data as others and liquid surmise there is no such thing as spherical warming. Since science is unable to successfully tell everyone the same â€Å"truth,” just like the Arts, it must thus bestride in the direction believed to be the most truthful. Some people may argue, however, that the Arts are still better at revealing the truth than the sciences because people must have specific scientific fellowship to obtain truth in the sciences.\r\nThe Arts, however, also consider work and knowledge on the audience’s part. The audience must read between the lines and make inferences, since the writer or artist rarely explicitly states what â€Å"the truth” is. While literature, other Arts, and the sciences have different standards for what can be considered to be the truth, none is more effective than the other at telling the truth. each(prenominal) must face problem s inherent in human nature in conveying their messages and none of these problems can easily be addressed.\r\nNevertheless, none of these Areas of Knowledge should be discarded as methods for communicating truth. Instead, people must individually and collectively evaluate every work or study on its own merits to execute a better grasp of â€Å"the truth.” Bibliography\r\nFarrell, Patrick. (2004). Portuguese Saudade and Other Emotions of Absence and Longing. Semantic Primes and Universal Grammar. Empirical Findings from the chat up Languages, ed. by Bert Peeters, Amsterdam and Philadelphia. Fitzgerald, F.S. (1925). The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.\r\nMagee, B. (1998). The yarn of Philosophy. New York, NY: Dorling Kindersley Publishing, Inc. Peirce, C.S. (1868). Some Consequences of Four Incapacities. Journal of spoilt Philosophy, 2, 140-157.\r\n'