To define something is to list the conditions or attributes that are necessary and sufficient for that thing to exist. The point of today's blog is to assert that whether or not you like or agree with some statement is NEITHER necessary nor sufficient for that statement to be true. Popularity is neither necessary nor sufficient for truth. You may like that, at sea level, water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. You may hate that water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. The fact that you like, or hate, the freezing point of water is completely irrelevant to the determination of whether it is true or false that water, at sea level, freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Truth is determined by whether water, at sea level, actually does turn into ice at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. How you or I feel about that just doesn't matter. By extension, the fact that you, or your neighbors, or the entire population of Kalamazoo, Michigan, LIKES something that some politician says has absolutely nothing to do with whether that politician's statement is true or false. Whether such a statement is true or false is determined by some set of necessary and sufficient conditions which we will examine further over the next several days. For now, I simply want every one to understand and accept that, whether you like or dislike something has absolutely nothing to do with that thing being true or false.
RSS Feed
