Topic > Understanding the Truth in “Of Truth” by Francis Bacon

In his essay “Of Truth,” Francis Bacon values ​​the truth and wants people to tell it. He begins the essay with a biblical allusion in which Pontius Pilate (who held an important position in the court of Emperor Tiberius) asks Jesus "what is truth" and then promptly walks away without waiting for an answer - this reflects human beings in general that they avoid truth and I find it difficult to assimilate it. Instead of seeking the truth, people prefer to resort to falsehood and lies; You prefer ambiguity to reality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay It dates back to the ancient Greek philosophers who got lost trying to understand why people tell lies. Some of them argued that there was no single absolute truth: accepting that there can be only one truth is like accepting the slavery of free will. So, they said there can be multiple truths. However, these thinkers have ceased to exist, and modern thinkers are of the opinion that if there is no truth, then each of us can create our own truths. Such a world would be full of chaos and anarchy, without any order. Undoubtedly, people make sincere attempts to discover the truth. However, if they succeed, they regret it and find the weight of the truth too much to bear. Therefore, they abandon the search for truth and indulge in lies, even though they know that lies are degrading. The world of lies is dark, but people develop a fascination with it at the expense of the truth. Some later Greek philosophers tried to understand why humans chose to lie. Under certain circumstances one understands why lies are told: in poetry, the distortion of truth adds beauty to poems. In business, merchants and traders resort to lying to attract buyers in the interest of business. What they wanted to know is why ordinary people resort to lies even when they know the unpleasant circumstances. The truth describes everything very honestly and transparently. Bacon compares it to daylight, daylight, all laid out in the open with no room for deception, unlike its ilk who are like candlelight shining in the darkness illuminating only what they want to show. The truth is like a pearl that shines bright and pure during the day, while lies are like diamonds/carbons that shine artificially, even at night and can create deceptive appearances. A combination of lie and truth has the ability to please man more than lie alone or truth alone. Bacon suggests the usefulness of this combination. If everything were represented in its true colors, without superficial praise or illusions, society would appear sad and undesirable. Vanity and exaltation induce creativity and intellectual stimulation. While praising oneself, a certain amount of unrealistic description of one's accomplishments is necessary, otherwise the praise will be bland and ineffective. “One of the Fathers” called poetry “the wine of devils” because it addressed emotions and distorted reality, not absolute truth. Plato said that art is twice as far from reality: it is not reliable. Bacon says that the exaggerations and allusions of poetry usually do not influence readers, but in some cases the falsity of such literature can take root in the minds of readers and dull their senses – this could be an unfortunate consequence of reading poetry. Lies, no doubt. , they depraved the mine. The truth, however, remains intact and absolute as always. The search for truth requires a certain type of belief. We can only seek the truth when we believe it. Then it took a lot of energy, passion and.