Truth: A Quest Not a Journey

[coberst]

Truth: A Quest Not a Journey

Karl Popper is noted for having focused on the scientific ‘truth’ sought by induction; an inductive theory is submitted to empirical facts not to prove the theory’s truth, but for the purpose of eliminating those theories wherein a scientific fact proves the falsity of the theory on-the-spot.

Can such a model be applicable to social and political thought? Absolutely not! (I think)

Social and political thought is a quest and not a journey. Journey implies a destination whereas quest implies the process of searching. There is no destination, no end point, and no terminus for the search when seeking ‘a truth’ for social and political thought. Unlike inductive reasoning as applied to objects, social and political theories are either bad, good or better, they are never ‘truth’ in the sense of the methodology of ‘normal science’.

Social and political thought needs criticism plus dialogue/dialectic techniques as a functioning ‘forever’ process. Induction leads to social and political theories that face, not destruction on-the-spot but destruction by a ‘thousand cuts’. A fact that chips away at such a theory brings the theory’s legitimacy into question in certain areas encompassing the territory surveyed by the theory but no social and political theory can be complete, there are too many facets within the domain in question.

Obviously there are no certain truths, other than this statement, but there is a significant distance between truth for normal science and truth for social and political thought.