>Whoops, this paragraph stopped me short! "Any particular point of view
>about reality has a better point of view"? "there is no ultimate truth"?
>If you believe these statements, David R., then I have deeply
>misunderstood something about your position, because it had been my
>impression that you were claiming that there was a Truth out there and
>that we had some kind of access to it.
There is a reality that has a definite nature at any given moment, but, we
cannot know everything about this nature since there is an infinite amount to
know. (There is an ultimate reality, but not an ultimate truth) We do have
access to this reality through our minds and senses, and what we learn is valid,
even though the more we learn the more our positions change. This does not make
our previous positions wrong, we just gain a better understanding. There are no
contradictions, just larger context. Within this context of what we know, our
knowledge is valid. So, knowledge, truth, and certainty are not absolute, but
contextual. This is different from other ideologies which use the fact that we
don't know everything to claim that our position about anything is not
valid.This uncertain position opens people up for exploitation by others.
Say you are a musician. The objectivist view would be: the way you play
now is fine, but you can always improve. Other idea systems imply (taken to an
extreme): There are possible ways of playing music so far beyond you that you
might as well give up and not take what you do seriously. -David