Do you want the best writing service?

Order now and get the best academic results.  The best writing in the hands of the best professionals.


Sample 4
4 Pages - Psychology


TRUTH AND BEAUTY

What is the truth

Once the concept of beauty is understood, despite its depth and the different perspectives that exist on it, we find another concept that, without a doubt, has been quite debated in history and is clearly related to our research.

According to some philosophers, in the history of philosophy the concept of truth has been a concept of considerable reflection, since it has different interpretations, however, the author highlights some characteristics to which the definition of truth has been related by its recurrence in terms of its use. They refer to: “The truth as correspondence and relationship. As a revelation. As conformity to a rule. As coherence. As utility. 

Regarding the aforementioned characteristics that are attributed to the use of truth, Abbaganano (Italian philosopher), establishes that the first characteristic is the one that has been most widespread, then the second, and, it is possible to find more than one of those characteristics in the same philosopher, since they are not excluded.

Regarding the first characteristic, the author mentions Plato when he refers to the truth. He mentions that truth as a correspondence and relation of thought to things is present in pre-Socratic philosophy and in a determined and explicit way. According to him, the True is the speech that says things as they are, so false would be the one that says them as they are not. Likewise, Aristotle argued that denying what is and affirming what is not, is false and affirmed that what is and denying what is not, would come to be true. He establishes that the truth is in the thought or in the language and not in the thing or in the being and that the measure of the truth is the being or the thing and not the thought or the speech.

Regarding the second characteristic, truth as revelation, the author mentions that it is expressed in two directions, firstly, as immediate revelation to man; refers to sensations or intuition; secondly, as a revelation of exceptional knowledge of the essences of things, be it their being or their very principle.

On the other hand, when referring to the truth as conformity to a rule, the third characteristic, the aforementioned author points out that this feature is very present in Plato, when he considers everything that agrees with the concept to be true. In turn, he mentions that for Saint Augustine, there is a law in which all things can be judged in accordance with it, and in this same line of thought, we find the philosophy of Kant, who establishes that conformity with respect to the law it is reduced only to the formal moment of truth, in conformity with the necessary general laws of the understanding. 

The author goes on to explain the fourth characteristic, truth as coherence, and points out that this was a characteristic developed and assumed by the English idealist movement of the second half of the (19th) century. The author highlights the work Appearance and Reality (1893) by F. Bradley, “in criticizing the world of human experience, he denies the contradictory, insofar as unreal, since truth or reality is perfect coherence, absolute infinite consciousness.” The antecedents of this conception are in Spinoza and Hegel.

And finally, we have the fifth characteristic, the truth as utility. This characteristic is present in some forms of the philosophy of action, particularly in Pragmatism, an example is W. James, who identifies truth with utility. However, it was Nietzsche who first identified the true with the preservative with humanity.

Understanding the characteristics previously exposed, we can see that the concept of truth has been reflected throughout history, there have been approaches, distortions … It has come a long way that must be taken into account, even in its search today, and that is why I must mention other theories.

To illustrate the concept of truth, the author makes mention of Plato’s cave: 

“Plato imagines that the prisoners who are grouped on a wall inside the cavern, are there from their birth and their head is directed only towards the inside of the cavern. Behind them is a fire and a way out. People and animals circulate along the path, casting their shadows on the back wall of the cavern. The prisoners inside the cavern can hardly perceive their shadows, in such a way that they credit that these shadows are real, being the only ones they have seen throughout their lives. One day, one of the prisoners is released, being able to leave the cave. The flames and the sun will completely dazzle him, little by little he gets used to seeing the real world around him … Later, the prisoner is forced to return to his original position in the cavern, seeing and distinguishing the world from the shadows of the real world I had seen. His companions, meanwhile, continue to believe that the real world is the world of shadows, since they never had the opportunity to experience the real world”.

The author points out that Plato’s parable shows that humanity is content to live in a world of appearance. But in turn, we can observe that truth and light are the only reality, since it is all that we see. In this way we can find a similarity with idealism, since consciousness can be equivalent to the light of the cave. Thanks to this myth it is possible to perceive different interpretations.

Most philosophers agree that the idea of truth deals with a mental interpretation of reality transmitted by the senses. According to the author, if so, the subjective interpretation of reality filtered through the senses shows us the truth. However, for the author it is important to remember that mental interpretation includes beliefs, values, and also consciousness, since they can deceive us once they filter the truth from our subjectivity, thus building a truth only for ourselves. 

Once the concept of truth has been exposed in a more profound way and following the guidelines of our research, we should ask ourselves, what is the relationship between truth and beauty? We will answer this question below.

 

The truth, the good and their connection with beauty. 

Researching about the concepts: the truth, the good and its connection with beauty, I found an investigation by an important author, who refers to the following phrase: “Beauty is the splendor of truth”, Plato’s phrase.

The author mentions that the fundamental dialogue that Plato uses is that of love, he is attracted at first by a beautiful body and later by all bodies, whose beauties are all sisters. Next, she mentions the infatuation with beautiful souls, with feelings, with beautiful actions, with the sciences whose knowledge inspires the most beautiful discourses of philosophy. And finally, the science of the beautiful: “A fortunate man who is given to contemplate the science of the beautiful” writes Plato.

It is important to note that Plato’s thought is based on what was the ideal of the Greek man “kalos kai agathos”, “the beautiful and the good”, understanding by “good” also truth, freedom and justice. The term “agathos” is then used to express each of these concepts.

For the aforementioned author, Plato at the Banquet, refers to how love rises towards the contemplation of the utmost beauty, what the philosopher identifies with God and in turn, relates beauty with goodness and truth, until he identifies The virtue.

Going deeper into the relationship of the three concepts: truth, beauty and truth, the author mentions the contribution that Kant made by writing the Critique of Pure Reason, the Critique of Practical Reason and the Critique of Judgment.

In the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant answers the question, what can we know? According to the aforementioned author, the answer to this question is that we can know Nature, being the set of objects and events that occur in a space and time, and that we can know through the senses.

In the Critique of Practical Reason, the question that Kant answers is, how should we behave, how should we act morally? For the author, the human being knows the Good, because it is not a fact of Nature, but the Good is the moral Duty that is valid for every situation, provided it is adequately deduced by timeless Reason. Understanding that every act is morally good, if anyone in the same situation could do it without being contradictory with himself.

In the Critique of Judgment, Kant finally studies what Beauty is, a definition that we have been defining since previous chapters, however the author emphasizes that “through Beauty we are aware that our body lives in the world of natural phenomena, subjected to the laws of physics, while our soul lives in another world, that of moral norms: the world of Freedom. And it is Beauty that makes us understand that there is a link between these two worlds and that we can be free, since our life is not subject to destiny and determinism, although our body is a body among other bodies”.

Well then, understanding Kant’s position through his Critiques, it is worth asking ourselves if Truth, Good and Beauty are both different and identical, what makes them be something different? 

For the author, the beautiful is good and vice versa. With the truth it is more difficult, since some Greek philosophers fail to make moral virtue teachable. The answer that matters to him is that of happiness, the famous eudaimonia (for the human being it is the achievement of excellence in reason). Here is the moral virtue of the human being.

According to the aforementioned author, good living has many nuances and meanings: the features that make up good living imply, for example, the possession of certain assets that can be very varied. The author mentions Aristotle in the Art of Rhetoric, who describes a list of conditions that generate eudaimonia, which would be happiness. The author emphasizes that “The happy, the fortunate, must lack nothing and his life must be rich in both internal and external goods.” Among these assets that Aristotle mentions we can highlight the many friends, the useful friends, the wealth, the good children, the many children, a pleasant old age. The bodily virtues such as: health, beauty, strength, a large body, the ability to fight, fame, honor, good fortune, also intelligence, courage, justice, and temperance.

 

Finally, and to close with the relationship of truth, good and beauty, we find the investigation of another author who highlights Plato’s work Hipias Major, when he affirms that the beautiful is that which is useful. For the aforementioned author, the beautiful was related to what is socially beneficial, so it was concluded that the beautiful is the cause of good. However, the author noted that Socrates objected to this argument once the interlocutors established a mutual relationship between the beautiful and the good, which causes one to be produced by the other. For Socrates, good works are born, which is desirable, so that in a way the beautiful would be the father of good. In turn, the beautiful originates morality, this is its utility. However, this argument was set aside because it was investigating what was beautiful in itself and not what it was that produced it. 

In a constant search for the relationship between truth, good and beauty, Greek philosophers agree on the idea that what unites these 3 concepts is love, and then what is love? For this author, love is the possibility that men and women have to enhance life with beauty.

Love seeks profit, the desire dependent on love is a desire for the good, for the good and it is this that enhances life. The author points out that when he refers to the fact that men and women love, he means that men and women seek the good, so the action of loving is the search for the good, for perfection, for justice.

So we understand that what we love in bodies is the idea of good that is reflected in them, and that is why we want to possess it. How would it be achieved? Through those bodies in which beauty itself is reflected. Love is the need for Good and the beautiful is the possibility of achieving it, the idea of the good is perfection itself and the beautiful is one of its attributes that is reflected in the bodies so that the fallen soul in them has the possibility of meeting with the good.

Do you want help with your writing?

We have the best writers in the world to help you

PAYMENT METHODS:

CONTACT US:

support@fulldissertation.com