Section 01 — Truth & Perspectives (LBS 101)

Section 01 — Truth & Perspectives

Course: LBS 101 – The Mental Gym

Learning Session

Explore These Materials: 1. Read (45 min) — Plato, Allegory of the Cave (Republic, Book VII, excerpts); Nietzsche, On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense (excerpt).
2. Watch (45 min) — Allegory of the Cave explained (short lecture); Relativism vs Realism (overview).
3. Listen (30 min) — Philosophy Bites: Truth and Relativism (podcast segment).
4. Reflect While Engaging — As you read/watch/listen, list claims that changed when the perspective shifted (author, culture, method).

Key Quote Box

Write one quote from today’s materials that you want to keep:
“_____________”

Practice

  1. Perspective Grid — Pick a contemporary question (e.g., AI risk, nutrition, justice). Write the central claim from three perspectives (scientific, philosophical, personal). Note what counts as evidence for each.
  2. Cave, Recast — Rewrite Plato’s cave in a modern setting (news feeds, algorithms, subcultures). Who are the prisoners, shadows, fire, and sun?
  3. Claim/Evidence/Ambiguity — Take one strong claim you hold. List the best evidence for and against it, plus what you don’t know yet.
  4. Reflection — When does “it depends” (relativism) help us think better, and when does it excuse sloppy reasoning?

Hard Problem (Optional)

Choose one theory of truth (correspondence, coherence, or pragmatic). Defend it with a concrete case study, and explain how the other two theories would handle the same case.