Absolute truth in epistemology and philosophy

¶ … Absolute Truth in the Philosophical Works of Plato and Friedrich Nietzsche

The development of human civilization is a social movement that gave way for humans to further explore everything about the world they live in. Philosophers, in their pursuit for knowledge about humans and human understanding, had written discourses about the nature of human knowledge, and how humanity had come to possess this quality. More specifically, philosophers attempted to explain human understanding and knowledge through the concept of 'absolute truth,' which serves as the catalyst for knowledge to develop within an individual. Plato and Friedrich Nietzsche are two famous philosophers who have written philosophical discourses discussing the concept of Absolute Truth as the primary factor that influences and develops human knowledge. Influenced by their social experiences during the period and society they had lived in (Plato during the 5th century and Nietzsche, 19th century), both philosophers subsists to different interpretations and viewpoints about Absolute Truth. These diverse discussions on Absolute Truth are discussed in the paper, using Friedrich Nietzsche's On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense and Plato's Allegory of the Cave, taken from The Republic.

Just as stated above, the two philosophers' opinion on Absolute Truth and generalizations about the origin of human knowledge differs because of the different philosophical movements and ideologies prevalent in their society during their time.

Plato, who lived in the 5th century, subsists to the belief that human knowledge and understanding can be explained by pure reasoning. In the "Allegory of the Cave," Plato illustrates, using the cave myth, how an individual needs to be exposed to the world to know the truth, since being restricted inside the cave or den would only give them a difference of the 'truth,' which they perceived to be "... literally nothing but the shadows of the images" that they see inside the cave. An individual who gets out of the cave realizes the knowledge that he possess, and, exposed to this truth, believes that humans are, "in a certain way the cause of all things which he and his fellows have been accustomed to behold..." Plato goes on to argue that the "capacity of learning exists in the soul already," and 'getting out of the cave' (search for learning) is the only way that people can regain and realize the power of knowledge and learning that is inherent in their Selves. Thus, Plato argues that learning is already inside the human being, and to search for this learning (synonymous to finding one's self through reflection), or getting out of the cave is the only way people can be "enlightened" to this Absolute Truth or reality.