Is It True That There Is No Truth?

Have you ever tried to persuade someone that your belief was true and that person responds, “Well, there is no truth” or “It might be true for you, but not for me”? It’s a frustrating experience. This way of thinking, called relativism, can impede any sort of rational dialogue. Catholic Answers Apologist Karlo Broussard tackles relativism today in this ALL NEW webisode!

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Have you ever tried to persuade someone that your belief was true and that person responds, “Well, there is no truth” or “It might be true for you, but not for me”? It’s a frustrating experience.
This way of thinking, called relativism, can impede any sort of rational dialogue.
The view that truth—that is, what is real—is relative to the individual is what some scholars call “I Say” relativism.
As U.S. Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the 1992 landmark case Planned Parenthood v. Casey, “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.”
In other words, in “I Say” relativism the individual determines what is real rather than discovers what is real.
In order to engage in any sensible discussion about truth, we must first overcome the obstacle of relativism.
So, what can we say in response?
First, we can ask, “Is it absolutely true that there is no absolute truth?” If they respond “yes”, then the statement itself is an absolute truth. But this is a contradiction—it’s absolutely true that there is no absolute truth? Plain absurdity!
Now, suppose a relativist answers our question, “No! The statement, ‘there is no absolute truth’ is only relatively true—it’s true relative to my system of beliefs.” This is problematic as well.
Using the verb “is” implies an assertion about the objective order of things—conformity to reality. But this is like saying, “It’s absolutely true that there is no absolute truth,” which as we already saw is a contradiction.
Furthermore, a relativist’s claim that the statement, ‘there is no absolute truth,’ is true relative to his system of beliefs makes the claim trivial.
If a relativist simply means by this, “I believe this but others don’t,” then it doesn't tell us anything we didn’t already know.
If a relativist means, “This is just my opinion, take it or leave it,” then there’s no need to pay any attention to it.
To put it frankly if a relativist is not going to make a claim about reality, then who cares? Why should we be concerned with such trivial matters?
A second way we can respond to “I Say” relativism is to show how the logic leads to absurdities.
For example, in a recent video, “College Kids Say the Darndest Things,” released by the Family Policy Institute of Washington, Joseph Backholm, the executive director, interviewed eight students from the University of Washington about so-called gender identity. Backholm, a white, 5' 9" male, asked the students what they would say if he told them he were a female. Every student was quick to say it would be okay.
Backholm then asks the students a series of questions that lead to his identifying as a 6’5” Chinese woman. Although a few of the students were a bit hesitant to affirm Backholm’s assertion that he is 6' 5" and Chinese they concluded it would be within his right to identify as he pleases.
That’s either going to make you laugh or cry.
Perhaps the students would have seen the absurdity of the relativistic logic if Backholm asked them, “What if I say I am a cat?”
Lest you think such claims are outside the realm of possibility, check out the story of 20-year-old Nano from Oslo, Norway, a young woman who claims she is a cat trapped in a human body. As she explains in an interview with a Norwegian reporter, she was “born in the wrong species.”
The absurdities that follow from “I Say” relativism continue.
By embracing relativism our culture has reached the point of insanity. There can be no false perception of reality because there is no reality to perceive—only a reality to create. Can our society function with such a worldview? It’s doubtful.
For Catholic Answers, I’m Karlo Broussard. Thanks for watching.

[mrtimeinabottle]

" I am the truth, and the truth shall set you free" God bless you.

[shanaybillett]

"It might true for you, but not for you ask them "Is that true for everybody?"...then notice the blank look on their faces...priceless!!!

[alexchristopher]

Be careful when you shake my hand. I'm an egg.

[slnoll]

Waiting for him to say "I'm Karoo Broussard, for Prager university"

[maximillianscheyer]

"We have to accept the reality as it is imposed on us by the society because it is very essential for us to function in this world intelligently and sanely. If we don't accept that reality, we are lost. We will end up in the loony bin. So we have to accept the reality as it is imposed on us by the culture, by society or whatever you want to call it, and at the same time understand that there is nothing that we can do to experience the reality of anything." Ug Krishnamurti. I think you are confusing concepts (the ideas we have to navigate our reality) with truth (reality). As we have no other mechanism (our ideas) to understand our reality, we must take responsibility for the way we conceptualise the world we live in - which I agree means calling out some of the ridiculousness you have highlighted in this video. That has nothing to do with proving that absolute truth exists. It simply means shifting the locus of truth from something objective outside of ourselves to 'truth' being a creative act that we all partake in responsibly.

[manuelescoto]

"Truth dont care about feelings" it cannot change simply because i feel different or because i have a different belief

[damonhawkins]

This is a really well polished, informative, summative and simple :) Thanks for this, very well done

[luthfanzuf]

truth is hard to achieve, what we need to do is be humble when we dont know about something, and willing to listen and understand others so we can move closer to the absolute truth.

[jesuschristbiblebiblestudy]

"I am the way, the truth and the life, nobody comes to the Father but through me" (John 14:6)
"Apart from Me, you can do nothing." (John 15:5)
Amen

[BlackR]

And what happens if I identify as a AH-64 Apache helicopter?

[hermitjayt]

You can be a relatavist and still acknowledge the nessecity of conformed "truth" for society to function.

Also using the "is" in relatively true is not a fallacy as it implies the relatavist is decicive in their perspective. In the same way that "I'm sure, that I'm unsure" isn't a contradiction.

[utmkfmy]

There is something that neither absolutists nor most relativists get about relativism.
By stating "There are no absolutes.", I am not stating the absolute truth but an approximation of the absolute truth. And this approximation of the absolute truth is more accurate than the approximation made by absolutism.
The same as Einsteins mechanics are a better approximation of real mechanics than Newtons mechanics.
There is no need for individual/personal truth here to make my point.

[yankeesuperstar]

Hey, is this format new? This reminds me of Prager university's style- it's really good- kept it up!

[uluvrc]

this video looks like something from prager u

[rafaelpastrano-espinoza]

It would be wonderful is this information was also available in multiple languages. I am thinking Spanish to start, since we have an increasing spanish speaking population and the hispanic cradle catholic tradition, broken in true practice, can be revived with apologetics and with thorough explanations like this.

I offer my help if there is ever a pilot program to get this started!

Thank you for all you guys do! =D

[aisthpaoitht]

Yes, but this overlooks the next essential question - what is truth? What if we sincerely disagree?

[ExploreLearnEnglishWithGeorge]

As D.Rumsfeld said, "There are known knowns, unknown knowns and unknown unknowns." i.e. everything outside of known knowns is relative=speculative.

[chrisloz]

Correct me if I’m wrong but, you’re saying that a fundamentalist world view is more appropriate then a relativist world view?

[new-knowledge]

If you are directly connected to the truth, then you need not be dependent upon mere beliefs. If you are NOT directly connected to the truth, then as a consequence you are obviously located within "The Zone of Less Than Truth". Thus if you choose to stick to your mere beliefs, then you have also chosen to stick to being located within the zone of less than truth. Those who stick to their beliefs, have also raised their beliefs to the top of the ladder in their decision making. They do so even though it is truth that is to be located in such a position ! But since believers raised their beliefs to the top of the ladder instead, there was now a gap all the way down at the bottom. In turn, this gap became the only location available for truth, within these peoples minds. And so such people in turn see the truth as clearly being an absolute lie. Thus roughly 2, 000 years ago, a fellow named Jesus Christ was placed in front of a group of religious "believers". He said he spoke the truth, and so they said he was a liar. He said he was the son of God, thus they thought of him as being the son of Satan. He should be treated with respect, thus they did the exact opposite. This demonstration of how believers respond to truths, was a complete success. And so one can not simply present truth directly to believers. One must speak to such people from a distance. To do so, one must communicate with them, via speaking to them in parables.

[plantseedsstaywoke]

Your anecdotes don't count. But I agree that there are absolutes.