Tea at Trianon: Truth in Modern Times

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, November 10, 2023

Truth in Modern Times

From Catholic Exchange:

Now truth is not a function of evidence. It is a function of personal or shared perception. And, this idea of personal truth is known as “relativism,” the truth that truth is and can only be perceptual, a product of each individual’s preference and belief.

That is why something can be true for you, but not for me, as so many are inclined to say in our modern time. And, that ubiquitous universal standard is the real problem we have with the idea of truth and with any and every truth claim beyond the boundaries of science. For that very perception about the nature of truth, as a matter of personal perception and preference, is often at the core of our clashes and the foundational first fact about truth that this article series will confront.

For virtually all our modern clashes about truth’s nature and our many provocative and divisive topics and truth claims, all arise inevitably from the idea that outside of verified scientific truth, truth is simply and universally a matter of personal perception or cultural commonality. A matter of historical artifact or cultural precedent or momentum. A manifestation of power, control and manipulation by those in positions of influence and authority. (Read more.)