As for the absolute truth question, if there is ANY absolute truth, then absolute truth exists. You say the Holocaust did happen, you are saying it is objectively true that the Holocaust happened, therefore there is at least one objective, absolute truth.Irridium said:33%
I blame the fact that the test used big words in ways that made my brain hurt.
I'm saying that I'm stupid. Although I did understand a few in order to form some sort of rebuttle.
Questions 17-28: Are there any absolute truths?
59392 of the 172790 people who have completed this activity have this tension in their beliefs.
You agreed that:
There are no objective truths about matters of fact; 'truth' is always relative to particular cultures and individuals
And also that:
The holocaust is an historical reality, taking place more or less as the history books report
If truth is relative then nothing is straightforwardly 'true' or 'factual'. Everything is 'true for someone' or 'a fact for them'. What then, of the holocaust? Is it true that millions of Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals and other 'enemies' of the Third Reich were systematically executed by the Nazis? If you believe that there are no objective truths, you have to say that there is no straight answer to this question. For some people, the holocaust is a fact, for others, it is not. So what can you say to those who deny it is a fact? Are they not as entitled to their view as you are to yours? How can one both assert the reality of the holocaust and deny that there is a single truth about it? Resolving this intellectual tension is a real challenge.
The holocaust did happen. There are multiple reports from soldiers, survivors, and the Nazi's themselves that show it did happen. Its, well, a fact. Of course the name could be debatable, but saying that 12 million or so people weren't killed by the Nazi's during WW2 is just wrong.
Questions 16 and 21: What should be legal?
70670 of the 172790 people who have completed this activity have this tension in their beliefs.
You agreed that:
The government should not permit the sale of treatments which have not been tested for efficacy and safety
And also that:
Alternative and complementary medicine is as valuable as mainstream medicine
But most alternative and complementary medicines have not been tested in trials as rigorously as 'conventional' medicine. For example, the popular herbal anti-depressant, St John's Wort, has recently been found to cause complications when taken alongside any of five other common medicines. This has only come to light because of extensive testing. Yet the product is freely available without medical advice. The question that needs answering here is, why do you believe alternative medicines and treatments need not be as extensively tested as conventional ones? The fact that they use natural ingredients is not in itself good reason, as there are plenty of naturally occurring toxins. Even if one argues that their long history shows them to be safe, that is not the same as showing them to be effective. This is not to criticise alternative therapies, but to question the different standards which are used to judge them compared to mainstream medicines.
Had I known that most alternative and complementary medicines have not been tested in trials as rigorously as 'conventional' medicine, I would have answered differently.