Abstract
"Explore the complex relationship between evidence and truth in philosophical inquiry. Discover how doubt plays a crucial role in the search for truth, and why evidence alone is not a guarantee of certainty. Learn how thinkers like René Descartes and Jules Lequier navigated the challenges of skepticism to uncover profound insights on free will, morality, and the human condition. Uncover the nuances of truth and evidence in this thought-provoking examination."
Extract
[...] Comment find, how to search for a first truth Extract - Jules Lequier (1865) - What is the relationship between evidence and truth ? Endowed with reason, man seems to be made to search for truth, as Aristotle shows: 'All men naturally desire to know' (Metaphysics). Thus, illusion and ignorance, which oppose truth, are to be fought. We can start by defining truth as a relation of conformity between the judgment we make about reality and reality itself. It is of the order of judgment, and therefore linked to the subject. [...]
[...] The test of the irrefutable is taken up by him in his text which puts forward the idea that philosophy and the common experience of disillusion invite us to be wary of our certainties: indeed, it is not because we experience the feeling of being in the right that we are really so. The 'good faith of uncertainty' can mutate into madness, when doubt leads us to doubt everything. Doubt must therefore be done with prudence, in order to reach a certainty linked to a reasoning. From then on, this text invites us to question the relationship between evidence and truth, in other words, being certain is it being in the right? Truth is a philosophical ideal, but can its search be done without doubt? [...]
[...] On the other hand, we must evaluate the evidence in the light of logical coherence. In a logical argument, a judgment is true if it is coherent and escapes contradiction (truth of reason). II- Evidence cannot do without doubt The search for truth plunges man into anxiety, from which he recovers by doubt « There is evidence," the author writes, "that when there is bad faith, one should doubt." This formula expresses the idea that evidence cannot do without doubt. Thus, to doubt is to show wisdom. [...]
[...] Men have all prejudices, that is, opinions that men hold to be true without examining them. However, these certainties can be deceptive, as experience shows the disillusionment. In addition, man, when he is deceived by his senses or a victim of his desires, is subject to error or illusion. In The Apology of Socrates of Plato, the oracle of Delphi tells Socrates that he is the wisest man in the city. Rather than blindly accepting this statement, the philosopher decides to put it to the test by going to a politician known for his great wisdom. [...]
[...] The necessity of a prudent attitude towards what seems evident" The author takes care to note that "the more evident something is, if it is true, the more apparent it is, if it is false". He then adds that "it is up to me to observe that every time I have confused one with the other, I had to take for good faith the inclination that led me to judge too quickly ( . The author expresses through these words the necessity of adopting a prudent attitude towards what may appear evident. [...]
