Tell me the whole truth and nothing but the truth....

I don't think we can assume there are any absolute truths. Even scientific truths are unsure, since new discoveries often supersede them. However, I think we can claim an absolute "perceived" truth - where one is as true as possible to what one believes is the truth. Your witness example is simply an issue of perception and interpretation, and lying would only come into the equation if the witness has some vested interest, either in the result of their evidence, or in their preconceptions (he must be guilty, he's black/arab/long-haired), so that they unconsciously slant their recollections and perceptions. The problem with my concept of absolute "perceived" truth lies in the unfortunate fact that there are so many contradictory perceptions of truth: all the differing religious and political truths, for instance, or the ascetic/ecstatic dichotomy (moralists versus libertines) and so on. Cultural relativism, the concept that one can only judge another system from within its own cultural perceptions is an attempt to take relative truths into account, but unfortunately even that brilliant heuristic tool has become concrete to the point that it allows no value judgments at all. The original; idea was that one could view, for example, female genital mutilation as a "truth" within the culture that uses it but still have the moral right to condemn that part of the culture, not because it is different from yours but because the act itself is "absolutely" immoral. Or at least I think it is, but am I correct? Are any of us ever correct in an absolute sense? Therefore we have no right, say modern cultural relativists, to make nay judgment at all, we can merely report and record. Lash

The truth is what really happened. If a camera recorded the whole event and you could see what happened with total clarity then that would be the truth. The people who say what they think they saw are saying what they think is the truth. They are not consciously lying but the mind does not always remember things are they are. Memory can be a very tricky thing. Some people will remember accurately and others will think they remember something but will be incorrect. They are not lying but their mind has changed things. No idea why. Maybe it is filling in blanks to make sense of what it saw or maybe it is confusing two images into one. Shock can also block things from the mind to avoid repeating the pain. It can be hard to sort out those who tell the truth and those who lie. As for the reports. Each of those people will probably remember different things and if you put all their stories together then you might get a good whole out of it or at least a good idea.

the truth for some is a cloud of smoke they would have you to believe they are telling the truth and all the times they be lying.some no they are lying and try to make you believe the truth.so i think lying can be multiple.like you said if 10 people saw a accident all of them will have a different story to tell.but lying is what i hate they lie about things to make themselves look good.

hello wheel416 I think you are partially right. Its the perceptions of different people that may be relative to themselves but the truth is always absolute. If fact I would say in the whole world its only the truth that is absolute. Truth is always fixed. Our perceptions about certain even may differ according to our senses,understanding & mental make up , but one thing will always hold good.That will be the truth & nothing else.Truth is not dependent on anything or any evidence to stand. It stands alone & has the self existence. But we do take help of evidences & opinions to establish our conclusions.

Everyones truth is truth according to them. Peoples perception and understanding of things is very different from one another therefore giving us not truth but truths. I once took a communication class in which we all at the same time were given instuctions to follow as to reach an end to a project.To get a certain answer.Each and every one of us in the class took the instuctions in a different manner and come to a different end. It didn't mean we didn't listen.It meant we had different perceptions of what we were being told.Truth is what we believe to be true.There is a reality but it's the way it's seen as to what your personal truth is. As for the 10 people..you would have to take all their truths and put them together to get your truth.lol

well i dont know if true honesty is possible. like you said they all see it from diffrent points of view. to all these people they are probubly tell what they believe to be true. even if it doesnt match. i know that im not the best at telling the truth all the time. most of the time its not really lying because at the time i say it most of the time i do believe it.

hmmm that is real deep thinking, but you are right I guess people see things differently, I guess we all take a snapshop of things in our brain, and i guess we look at different things in some ways but manye it has something to do with just what sort of memory we have, like i have no memory for numbers, and yet some people are so good at that...but you certainly have hit on a good topic here..

There are many different truths. Your truth and my truth can be quite different. Some people (especially Christians) are convinced that truth never changes, that its carved in stone. But history has proved that truth is ever changing. In the dark ages it was ok for Christians to burn those accused by the Church of witchcraft. That is no longer the truth. At one time it was a cardinal sin the eat fish on Fridays, but that truth too has changed. There can be no Absolute Truth, because absolutely nothing in this dimension is static, (except change). The old saying," what goes up, must come down, a truism since the beginning of time, went up in a cloud of smoke with the first rocket to the moon.

well for each witnesses their opinions wud be the absolute truth bt when they will hear abt the other opinions i doubt that they might find it to be the truth