Defining Key Terms
What is “truth”? Is there objective truth? Is all truth relative? Is the statement “all truth is relative” also relatively true?
What is “justice”? By what standard should it be measured? How should it be brought about? Should it be brought about?
What is “right” or “wrong”? Is there any objective standard of right or wrong? Is all morality subjective? Are love and hate, therefore, morally equivalent?
What is “success”? By what standard should it be measured? Is there any ultimate purpose to life at all? If not, does it make sense to try to “succeed” at anything?
Theological & Philosophical Foundations
Do we not realize that the ways in which we answer these questions depends on our varying theologies and philosophies — our worldviews? Can’t we see how people can use these same key terms but have different definitions?
I suspect conversations about controversial issues would be a bit easier if our conceptions of such key terms did not contradict.
Perhaps unbeknownst to us, our disagreement often runs much deeper. While the more superficial symptoms of our dissent are often more obvious during heated debates over social issues, the roots of the conflict are more foundational.
This is why, to me, it seems wise to examine the theological and philosophical foundations of our conceptions of such terms. As it’s been said, we should argue at the worldview level.