The Personal Truth

"That would be my metaphysical definition of truth; something so personal that the same truth could never be appreciated by two minds." -Oscar Wilde


Existence before essence; that is what existentialism states. In fact, it's the first pillar of existentialism. "Human life is understandable only in terms of the individual experience." The individual is a being created from unique experiences, and from those unique experiences they create their own truth. Since they have these unique experiences from which they create their personal truth and no one else has those unique experiences then other people cannot appreciate their truth completely. Individuals have need to create their own truth because life has no truth to offer. That's the only truth one can derive from life. In The Stranger, Mersault comes to embrace the fact that there is no meaning to life. That is what makes him a stranger. He is surrounded with people like Marie who gives value to marriage and the chaplain who preaches about life's certainties, but Mersault has come to embrace the fact that there is nothing certain, and embraces the absurdity (ab*S*urdity) of life. Today, we see this same mindset about personal truth, but it has a different name: moral relativism. Moral relativism says that what's true for you isn't true for me. The best example of this is seen when looking across cultures. Earlier this year Burnett gave us an article on Cultural Relativism. The first half of it talked about differing moral codes that different cultures have adopted. Take a look at the Eskimos. It is not unusual for men to have more than one wife, and it was considered a generous act to give one's wife to a guest for a night. Not only that, but a prominent male-figure in the community might even go as far as to demand other men's wives for their own personal use, and this was acceptable. Our western culture would see this as a degradation of marriage, but it's perfectly acceptable in culture of the Eskimos. Moral relativism says that we shouldn't judge them for their different code. It goes back to Wilde's quote and existentialism. The truth is something so personal because we are all unique individuals. We develop our own personal truth, and therefor we cannot appreciate the truth of others. Interestingly enough, the article continues on to score a point for universal truth using grandma as an example. In the U.S. it is forbidden to eat grandma, and so it is in a country like India. However the latter won't eat cows because they believe that it could possibly be grandma they're chowing down on. The discrepancy there isn't moral, it's just a question about who is grandma. The universal truth? Don't eat grandma. 


P.S. I would also like to mention Dean Nusbaum in this blog, because I told him I would. It's all because I have superpowers. 
P.P.S. This is the third blog in a row I have based off an Oscar Wilde quote. I'm obsessed.