CHAPTER SEVEN
7. What Are The Premises of Truth?
Going back to the roots of the Western philosophic tradition, the attempt to study the world, to learn, to become educated, is inseparable from the concept of truth.
The very idea of education assumes that the human mind is capable of discovering and knowing truth about the world in which human beings live, including truths about human beings themselves.
The search for truth begins with three premises that provide the foundation for all learning and knowledge:
These three premises are the beginning point of philosophy, of all education. If these premises were untrue, the attempt to discover truth, to learn, and to become educated would be pointless and impossible.
This is a very general sketch of classical Western philosophy. We should emphasize that while the three premises above are features of the West, or Western civilization, those who have taught these ideas never understood the premises to be limited to Western people.
They assumed ALL human beings, everywhere, are capable of discovering and knowing truth because all human beings live in the same natural universe and all human beings possess a free, thinking, rational mind.