Quote:
Originally Posted by Bootboi
I think sometimes it may be as simple as the perception of a certain word.
"I believe" Gives the perception of judgement. Where "My truth" is more personally directed and giving the feeling of no personal judgement to other people's beliefs.
My .2 cents
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Bootboi:
See, I get exactly the opposite.
Here's the difference to me:
"I believe" means "Here is how I think the world works. I may or may not have good reasons for it. It might be wishful thinking. I might be right. I might be wrong. I do not necessarily expect you to take my belief seriously."
"This is true to me" means "Here is how the world works. I have very good reasons for saying this. I do not seriously entertain the possibility that I'm wrong about this. "
The first statement seems to me to be less about judgement and more about simple acknowledgement of what is going on in one's own head and is a statement saying that one's level of certainty is at a level that is less than entirely compelling for others. The second statement seems to be more about making a judgement. Because something being true means we should expect the world to *actually* be that way.
I believe that the European social democratic model is a more economically stable, rational and humane way to order a society than the American laissez-faire capitalist model. While I think that my reasons for believing this are fairly strong and I think I can make a pretty damn good empirical case for it, I'm certainly not prepared to say that it is true. Meaning I don't necessarily expect the world to be obliged to be that way.
On the other hand, I know that it is a true statement that Earth orbits the sun. I know it is a true statement that ordinary water is two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom. I have very good reasons for believing so. I would be rather surprised to wake up tomorrow morning to find out that the Sun orbits the Earth or that ordinary water is actually comprised of three carbon atoms and four iron atoms. The world is actually obliged to be a certain way because if it were not that way, then something else would be true. I think a statement can be said to be true when it would be perverse to withhold at least provisional assent.
My problem with the 'this is true for me' statement is that if I am going to behave as if that statement has any coherence to it, I'm going to have to *at minimum* treat your statement as if your reasons for believing it are sufficiently strong that I should accept those reasons as valid--at least in my dealings with you. They may not be valid and your statement may be seriously contradicted by evidence.
Cheers
Aj