Part of The Student Room Group

  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

"Context is all" (Margaret Atwood). Does this mean that there is no such thing as truth ?

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

"Context is all" (Margaret Atwood). Does this mean that there is no such thing as truth ? I came across the quote "Context is all; or is it ripeness? One or the other"[1] when reading Margaret Atwood's novel "The Handmaid's Tale" for English. I didn't give it much attention, because since I was 12, I had come to the conclusion that there was no such thing as a "fact" and every thought depended on other factors for it to be true. However in this essay I'm going to see if my original assumption was true or if there is a way to reach a truth through different branches of knowledge. I'm going to take the definition of "truth" from the dictionary, solely to have a base for which to compare the rest of the essay to; "A verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle"[2].Which means that that there are facts that are backed by evidence, such as; it is 14:24 (at the time of writing). However in this case we can apply Atwood's 'context is all', and change it to "context is location", as this scenario isn't necessarily true, seeing that in Sydney the time is 22:25, therefore the truth can be considered relative. ...read more.

Middle

Once again I came to the conclusion that context will undermine truth. Emotions, feelings and intuition is the expression of a person's mental state, normally based on the person's internal (physical) and external (social), sensory feeling.[8] We use emotions to determine our personal state of mind, we can be angry, sad and confused; and through emotion we can arrive at the truth that we are depressed. Regardless this truth only remains legitimate if the causes of the emotions remain constant. Likewise in the case we change the context of the situation, such as instead of it raining it were sunny, that person wouldn't feel as depressed and a new truth would emerge. Ethics is the study of morality; analysing if behaviour, thoughts and actions are "good" or "right" as opposed to "bad" and "wrong."[9] Ethics plays a major role in the modern world as every public and social source, especially the media, are advertising what is nice and evil, good and bad, right and wrong. It is like the legal system, but it is more vague and theoretical also the consequences tend to be social as opposed to being sent to jail. Ethics are open to interpretation by each individual each society or even a culture as a whole. ...read more.

Conclusion

Multiplying both sides by 3 we get: 1 = .999... Therefore: 1 + 1 = 2 We know the first equation is a truth as we have been taught this in school and the world of mathematics revolves around that equation being valid. However using mathematical induction and rationalisation we have induced that the last equation is also valid. Nonetheless we arrive to the conclusion that they both can not be equal in a same frame of reference. Once again Margaret Atwood, shows that the truth as we know it, can't be absolute as it varies depending on the context in which it is proposed. Answering the question "Does this mean that there is no such thing as truth ?" I believe there is always a truth as depending on the context, any situation can be 'manipulated' to arrive at a truth. However I don't think Universality[14]; an idea which is universal, and exists everywhere, throughout the Universe nor an Absolute Truth exists, as the value of every thought changes depending on the context. As the Relativists would say; it's all Relative. I think a more appropriate title would have been: "Does this mean there is no such thing as an absolute truth ?" as the use of "Context is all" allows for there always to be a truth but not one that is absolute. ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge section.

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

or


Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge essays

  1. To what extent is truth different in mathematics, the arts, and ethics?

    And depending on the circumstances that mathematics is under (such as the use of the Pythagorean Theorem) the truth that can be discovered is actually 'absolute'. Next, one must ask themselves if the truth in the arts is as strong and objective as the truth in mathematics.

  2. To what extent is truth different in mathematics, the arts and ethics?

    We went past him, and a few seconds later we had flashing lights in our rear mirrors. Busted .He fined my mom a heavy load. In this situation, I do not think the cop should have used this sly, deceiving method to catch speeders.

  1. Tok essay- context is all

    On the other hand, there are three main problems with this theory which cause it to be criticized by modern thinkers of today. The first criticism of this theory is the problem with facts. The theory relies on a truth being equivalent to a fact, however that beings into play our reliance on what is fact.

  2. Context is all (Margaret Atwood). Does this mean that there is no such thing ...

    Both theories coincide with the definition of truth provided above but the constructivist theory also makes a clear distinction between objective truth and truth that is socially accepted. In order to answer the question above it is important to define objective truth as well as truth that is socially accepted.

  1. To what extent is truth different in mathematics, arts, and ethics?

    to trigger sentiments appropriate to the colors, sounds, or even smells to that individual. But a source of controversy arises from the fact that art is often unintentional, meaning that a given work may be taken to be a work of art by a given audience even without corresponding intent from the artist.

  2. Context is all. from the novel The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood brings a ...

    Does this mean it is a universal truth? I consider two ways of interpreting the statement. One interpretation is that it is a formal sequence of symbols that are provable using formal rules which means that the statement "1+1=2" doesn't have any meaning outside that given by the formal system it is part of i.e.

  1. Context is all (Margaret Atwood). Does this mean that there is no such thing ...

    What we can deduce from Godel?s findings is that even in a mathematical context, a formula of rational a-priori numbers can be formulated in such a way that they are 25 untrue. Perception is important when deciding a truth, particularly in the arts, including literature, poetry, music and visual arts.

  2. The Legitimacy of the State. From where does the state derive its authority?

    But more often the mere knowledge of what power might do is enough to ensure compliance. This is true even in cases where very violent and unwelcome power establishes itself, for example Nazi style occupation, since most people choose to preserve their lives and property by doing what they are told.

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work