Distinguishing Truth From False

Q: On a daily basis how do you distinguish truth from false?

It has been one week now since ToK class has commenced and we have been focusing on Knowledge. What is knowledge we asked ourselves? We concluded that there are different types of knowledge including personal knowledge, impersonal knowledge, and subconscious knowledge. These types of knowledge are key factors in determining what is true and what is false. In distinguishing truth from false, combinations of these three types of knowledge are used in assessing the validity of a statement, action, or scenario.

Earlier this week I was reading a document on the Israeli/Palestinian feud, assessing the justifications for the creation of Israel in 1948 and the cause of numerous wars between the two parties. It was clear that the viewpoints of both parties were far apart, but yet they were both held to be true. The Palestinians believed truth consists of Jews from Europe forcefully pushing them out of their homes in Palestine killing innocent civilians and creating an Israeli state with backing from Britain. Conversely, for the British and the rest of Europe, the truth was that following the Holocaust and the persecution of Jews in the 1930's, the Jews were given money to purchase land in Palestine from the Palestinians. They argue that the Palestinian's did not hesitate to except the compensation for their land, and submissively allowed the creation of Israel. Palestinians believe they were tricked into selling their land and were not apart of the interim government set up by the 1947 UN Partition Plan. Because both parties could not agree to discuss the issue diplomatically and reach a common understanding of the truth, the truth has been distorted.

As a result, numerous wars have been fought over interpretations of the truth, and continue to be fought today. In addition to the principle parties in the conflict, other sources may also be held accountable to distorting the truth. Key among them would be the biased media sources and other countries taking one or the other side of the truth. One thing Tok has taught me to do is to critically examine both sides of a story before deciding on the truth. In this case, both the Palestinians and the Israeli's believe their version of facts to be the truth. However, another fact is that with the passage of time, memory and sensory perception serve as biases for both parties in terms of what they perceive to be the truth, are hence explain where the two different versions of the truth come to existence. As the famous scientist Niels Bohr said "the opposite of