Skip to main contentAccessibility feedback
Dear catholic.com visitors: This website from Catholic Answers, with all its many resources, is the world’s largest source of explanations for Catholic beliefs and practices. A fully independent, lay-run, 501(c)(3) ministry that receives no funding from the institutional Church, we rely entirely on the generosity of everyday people like you to keep this website going with trustworthy, fresh, and relevant content. If everyone visiting this month gave just $1, catholic.com would be fully funded for an entire year. If you’ve never made a gift, now is the time. Your donation will be matched dollar for dollar this week only. Thanks and God bless.
Dear catholic.com visitors: This Catholic Answers website, with all its free resources, is the world’s largest source of explanations for Catholic beliefs and practices. We receive no funding from the institutional Church and rely entirely on your generosity to sustain this website with trustworthy, accessible content. If every visitor this month donated $1, catholic.com would be fully funded for an entire year. If you’ve never made a gift, now is the time. Your donation will be matched dollar for dollar this week only. Thanks and God bless.
Background Image

Five Dumb Things Folks Say About "Truth"

Matt Fradd

In this post we will look at how one might respond to five self-referentially incoherent things people say about truth.

Self-referential incoherence is a logical fallacy in which some claim is made that, upon being applied to itself, refutes itself.

1. “There is no such thing as objective truth.” Really? Is that statement objectively true? If so, it is objectively true that there is no objective truth.

2. “Only that which can be proven scientifically can be called ‘true.’” Can you prove scientifically that one should accept only that which can be proven scientifically? Nope. Therefore you should either abandon your position or agree that there are other ways

3. “Everything is true.” Ah, I see; then you must also believe that nothing is true, right? For if the claim, “Nothing is true” is not true then it is not true that everything is true.

4. “What’s true for you may not be true for me.” Is that statement true only for you, or is it true for everyone? If it’s true only for you, then I don’t need to accept it. But if it’s true for everyone, then it’s not true that all truth is relative.

5. “We should be skeptical about truth.” If it is true that we should be skeptical about truth, then we should be skeptical about the claim that we should be skeptical about truth. But the more skeptical one is about one’s skepticism the more certain one becomes.

To learn more about logical fallacies click here! 

Did you like this content? Please help keep us ad-free

More from Catholic.com

Enjoying this content?  Please support our mission!Donate