Worldview 8

How do we know anything? How do we discover truth? This is not just an esoteric question.
How we discover truth is very important to our understanding of truth. To a modern student I think the answer to the question of, "how do I know truth?" would be, "through science." But is that the only source of truth? Isn't all of science based on assumptions? I don't know about you but I require a little more solid of a rock to stand on than just somebody's observations based on assumptions.

Not even the accumulated knowledge of mankind, (assuming that we could access all of that knowledge) is sufficient for truth. And now days we are accumulating knowledge faster than we can process it. Truth needs to be much more than just an accumulation of "facts." We need the "truths" of virtue more than the truths of math, or science. Both can help us to live together successfully in this world but the truths of virtue are far superior to success than math or science.

The truths of virtue cannot be measured. But they can be agreed upon. But, as my original question states, how do we know those truths. Here a couple of diagrams that might help in thinking this through.





The second diagram is how most people "know" anything. They simply observe what they see in life and make decisions about it based on nothing more than their values and assumptions.
If they were to be honest, they care little about what other sources of truth there are in life. This is truly the, "if it feels good believe it" type of virtue. I have actually taken surveys out on the University of Minnesota campus and asked the students, "how do you know something is true?" Their answer was almost always, "I feel good about it in my heart." Thus, if it feels good do it.

Unfortunately, this approach to truth does not fare very well over time in any educational environment. Yet this is how truth is established on our "secular" educational institutions. God has almost completely been eliminated.