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[...] These individuals then get misled, not questioning their own opinions. C. Social and Cultural Influences Regarding this point, we can mention the research of Solomon Asch (1951) who highlighted the influence of social conformity. In these studies, subjects were confronted with a group of people who intentionally provided false responses to a basic visual perception task. Under the influence of the group, many participants imitated the wrong answer, even though they were fully aware that it was not the truth. [...]
[...] The Quest for Truth Several currents have interpreted and attempted to define truth. I will briefly overview some authors who, in my opinion, validly illustrate the search for access to truth. A. Rationalism Rationalism, illustrated by Descartes in the Discourse on the Method, emphasizes that reason is at the heart of knowledge. Furthermore, the Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza clarifies that intellectual deduction and intuition, as he mentions in his work Ethics (Spinoza, 1677), constitute the methods for achieving clear and distinct truths. [...]
[...] Conclusion Although I was unable to take up all the authors around my question, we can already conclude that the recognition of truth is made difficult by the limits of our perception. Different philosophical approaches have tried to define truth and propose ways to access it. Thus, in light of this dissertation, I call for cultivating critical thinking, opening up to the diversity of perspectives in our world. And finally, to favor the exchange of ideas. This quest for truth is an unfinished journey, but it will be essential for human development and the construction of a more just and enlightened world. [...]
[...] The philosopher warned, at the time, against the 'idols of the mind' idols of the mind », which he considered to be prejudices and errors of reasoning that hindered the quest for truth. He was then particularly critical of the ' bias of confirmation », which for Bacon is a tendency that pushes us to favor information that corroborates our pre-existing beliefs while neglecting those that contradict them. De plus, Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky (1974) highlighted various cognitive distortions that affect our judgments and decisions, including the anchoring effect. [...]
[...] However, Richard Rorty, in Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity (Rorty, 1989), critique pragmatism, accusing it of reducing truth to a simple social convention. III. Truth and its definitions The notion of truth is far from being univocal. It takes on different forms and raises complex questions. A. Objective truth vs. subjective truth Kant, in his Critique of Pure Reason, distinguishes reality in itself from reality as we perceive it. As for Bertrand Russell, in 1912, in The Problems of Philosophy, he defines truth as a correspondence between our ideas and the external reality. B. [...]
