1. RahatMadarasmi
Period 5
Senior Seminar
Clover
Senior Seminar Final Essay
Q: “There are no absolute distinctions between what is true and what is false.”
Discuss this claim.
Truth is based on the manner in which you approach it. Absolutism is the
theory that states that there is one absolute truth that everybody agrees on and
is justifiable. This is an approach that is also agreed upon by Plato. The other
theory is Relativism, which states that there can be multiple truths based on the
person that perceives it. This can be possible because, often times, people of
different cultures have different beliefs and have different views on what may be
true and false. Along with this, a person may be either gullible or skeptical and
these two different personalities would result in different perceptions of the
truth. Thus based on these three scenarios, it is possible that there be “no
absolute distinctions between what is true and what is false.”
People of the same culture generally share the same views but people
different cultures tend to share the opposite as their views are often different.
When this occurs, due to these different beliefs, it is very possible that their
perceptions of what is true may be different. A key example of this would be a
scenario in which, if you were to take a person who was greatly influenced by the
Nazi belief and a person who was affected by the atrocities that the Nazi’s
committed, you would probably receive different accounts of the truth. The
person who came from a Nazi background would probably believe the truth to
be something in favor of what the Nazis did, whereas a person who was affected
by the actions of the Nazi’s would probably believe the truth to be something
along the lines of the Nazis being criminals and committing acts of genocide.
Thus it can be seen that peoples’ perceptions of what is can differ from culture to
culture based on their beliefs.
A person who is gullible would also have a different perception than that
of others’ of what is true and what is false. A gullible person is described as
someone who is easily persuaded to believe something is true. Thus a gullible
person would probably believe the first thing that they hear to be true, whereas
someone who is not as gullible will take their time to listen to more opinions, do
some research and then come to a conclusion as to what is true and what is not.
Being too gullible can easily be detrimental to people because they believe in the
first thing that they hear, and if what they initially hear is incorrect, then this

2. incorrect knowledge will become the reality of the gullible person. An example
would be to say that the sun is a planet. If this is said to a gullible person, it is
most likely that the gullible person will believe it and it will proceed to become
their reality. Thus it can be seen that a gullible person’s perception of what is
true and what is false can be different from the views of others based on the fact
that they are easily persuaded in to believing something is true.
A person who is skeptical, on the other hand would also have a different
perception than other people of what is true or false. A skeptical person is
defined to be a person that questions the tenets of things and doesn’t believe
anything that they are told. A person that is skeptical would probably hear
something from someone and instantly deny it or question its validity and then
proceed to personally find out what the actual truth is, whereas a person who is
less skeptical would take into consideration what they hear and then go on to
find more out about the subject and make a decision. Being too skeptical can be
fairly detrimental to people because they tend to often question things too much,
thus denying them the possibility of taking what they are hearing into
consideration. In the case that what they are hearing is correct, they are missing
out on valuable information that could be used to build on prior or future
knowledge, which in turn would contribute to what they perceive as their reality.
Thus it can be seen that a skeptic’s perception of what is true and what is false
can be different from the views of others based on the fact that they question the
validity of what they are told and rarely ever believe it.
Thus, in conclusion, this claim can indeed be true for many reasons as
truth varies among skeptics, gullible people and people of different cultures.
Skeptics rarely ever believe what they are told, gullible people often or always
believe what they are told and these two different kinds of people would thus
have different perceptions on what is true and what is false. People of different
cultures have different beliefs and this too has a large effect on why their
perceptions of truth may be different. Based on these examples, it is definitely
possible that truth be relative, however absolutism is also a valid point as there
are a number of examples proving that there can only be one absolute truth that
is justifiable and believed by all.