Seeking TRUTH can be carried out in SCIENCE (universal rational path) and ART (private emotional path).
In SCIENCE we have to distinct facts from information and we need to think about the way we handle information in order to be able to construct a SCIENTIFIC TRUTH. A molecule is a fact in life but building a house requires information and the final judgement is in the fact if we consider a house to be our home. Yes finding the TRUTH is dependent on the abstraction level, the lower the level the more independent the TRUTH becomes from the context.
On a PHYSICAL level experiments reproduce well and general laws can be defined which are then universal true statements that we all can agree on. But even on a physical level we run into quantum description problems if we dive into the world of ever smaller physical objects and the TRUTH becomes dependent on the context. In one context light is a wave, in another context light is a stream of particles. The way we set up the measurement defines the TRUTH.
If we move up in abstraction level, to the level of TECHNOLOGY the TRUTH is becoming more dependent on the context. In computer science there is even the example that a true statement is equivalent to the inversion of that statement, see De Morgan's law .
If we move up to the level of BIOLOGY the TRUTH is becoming strongly dependent on the context. This context dependency will result in laws that can be inverted into true statements in other contexts, using an extended version of the Morgan's inversion law. Take e.g. Darwin's evolution law that the best adapted species survives. I can create a context in which the inverse law is also true. In trying to live a comfortable life I always pull on the most comfortable T-shirt. After some time all comfortable T-shirts are worn out and the less comfortable T-shirts survive in my pile of T-shirts. Furthermore human intelligence has modified Darwin's evolution law towards the statement that the group that adapts its environment will survive and not necessarily the group that adapts itself towards the changing environment. This has placed human intelligence on a dangerous path outside the classic evolution and we should try to concentrate on forming one global group that tries to save earth as a sustainable local paradise in our cold Universe .
If we move further up to the level of PERCEPTION the TRUTH is becoming even more strongly context dependent, e.g. the pitch of a signal is defined by its local context and the same physical signal may give rise to complete different pitches if the context is changed, listen to this example where the pitch rises forever and the locally perceived pitch is determined by the preceding and following pitches.
On the highest abstraction level of PSYCHOLOGY and SOCIOLOGY describing TRUTH is nearly impossible, one needs an ever larger body of context in order to be able to define a TRUTH. In these disciplines formulating laws is extremely difficult and experiments are hard to replicate. Take e.g. a phenomenon as cognitive dissonance, where subjects ignore perceptions that do not fit their personal truth. The revers phenomenon also exists as shown by Daryl Bem. In experiments he showed that if subjects change their view on the truth they are inclined to deny that they formerly rejected this truth.
The principle of TRUTH inversion can also be applied in PHILOSOPHY in a mode of operation that goes beyond the standard
modus tollens logic inversion, or beyond the inversion of a double negative.
My dissertation provides an example using Wittgensteins statement
(1989, PhD last page):
"Waarover niet kan worden gesproken, daarover moet men zwijgen" =>TRUTH inversion=> "waar het hart vol van is, loopt de mond van over" (Dutch saying).
Another example uses a statement of Erasmus:
"Een leven zonder boeken is onleefbaar" =>TRUTH inversion=> "De dood met computers wordt leefbaar".
Both philosophical TRUTH inversions are difficult to translate into English, for the Wittgenstein example it would be something like:
"What cannot be talked about, one must remain silent about" =>TRUTH inversion=> "where the heart is full, the mouth overflows"
An English saying example is:
"The early bird catches the worm" =>TRUTH inversion=> "A late fox cannot catch a chicken".
The idea of TRUTH inversion can also be applied within a single philosophical statement to obtain a universal TRUTH, e.g.:
"Everything is important up close, nothing is important from afar"
"Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable"
And what about the application of the idea of TRUTH inversions in ART ?. I only know of one example, in poetry, by Remco Campert die na teveel verzoeken om zijn gedicht "Poëzie is een daad" voor te dragen een inversie schreef:
Poëzie is een daad
van bevestiging. Ik bevestig
dat ik leef, dat ik niet alleen leef.
Poëzie is een toekomst, denken
aan de volgende week, aan een ander land,
aan jou als je oud bent.
Poëzie is mijn adem, beweegt
mijn voeten, aarzelend soms,
over de aarde die daarom vraagt.
Voltaire had pokken, maar
genas zichzelf door o.a. te drinken
120 liter limonade: dat is poëzie.
Of neem de branding. Stukgeslagen
op de rotsen is zij niet werkelijk verslagen,
maar herneemt zich en is daarin poëzie.
Elk woord dat wordt geschreven
is een aanslag op de ouderdom.
Tenslotte wint de dood, jazeker,
maar de dood is slechts de stilte in de zaal
nadat het laatste woord geklonken heeft.
De dood is een ontroering.
INVERSIE
Poëzie is een daad
van ontkenning. Ik ontken
dat ik leef, dat ik niet alleen leef.
Poëzie is een verleden, denken
aan vorige week, aan hetzelfde land,
aan jou als we gescheiden zijn.
Poëzie breekt mijn adem, verlamt
mijn voeten, zeer afdoende,
op de aarde die dat koud laat.
Voltaire had pokken, maar
genas zichzelf door o.a. te drinken
120 liter limonade: dat is een feit.
Of neem de branding. Stukgeslagen
op de rotsen is zij niet werkelijk verslagen,
maar herneemt zich en is daarin branding.
Elk woord dat wordt geschreven
is een bijdrage tot de ouderdom.
Tenslotte wint de dood, en hoe:
maar de dood is slechts de stilte in de zaal
nadat het laatste woord geklonken heeft.
De dood is een ontroering.
The only discipline that has no difficulty in TRUTH finding is MATHEMATICS, they define TRUTH, e.g. a circle is defined by x2 + y2 = 1. Unfortunately circles do not exist and applications of mathematics are only possible by complementing it with REAL WORLD findings and trying to make the gap between realization and idealization as small as possible.
And what if we slowly move from more or less exact SCIENCES towards less exact SCIENCES such as HISTORY and POLITICS. Then we have to stick to the statement of Jean Paul Sartre: "la vérité est toujours vécue en situation" (freely translated as "the truth is determined by the situation"). Unfortunately opinions are becoming progressively more important and for some politicians the TRUTH is their opinion. When an opinion is supported by an "ideal" many politicians are tempted to follow the path of "the end justifies the means", especially when they pursue a better quality?, of life; ultimately leading to fundamentalism and terrorism.
If you are searching TRUTH in SCIENCE or ART you will need to find a Cooper pair partner that has orthogonal skills allowing to crack problems in super co-operation. In quantum physics two electrons can form a Cooper pair, together they can quantum tunnel through a wire without resistance (super conductivity). John Bardeen formulated the quantum theory on super conductivity in 1957 together with Leon Cooper and John Schrieffer. John Bardeen was a physicist/engineer who chose to study engineering in the late twenties because he did not want to be an academic like his father. He became the only person to win the Nobel prize for physics twice, due to the fact that he was able to form Cooper pairs (triplets) with fellow scientists. In 1956 he won the Nobel prize for his work on semiconductors, together with William Shockley and Walter Brattain, and in 1972 for his work on superconductivity (with Cooper and Schrieffer).
Forming a Cooper co-operation pair, like e.g. Crick/Watson, Lennon/McCartney, Brin/Page, Ende/Mol or a Cooper co-operation triplet like Bardeen/Cooper/Schrieffer is extremely difficult, far more difficult than forming an electron-proton pair, as you can see in the large amount of marriages but limited Cooper pair co-operations. The Cooper co-operation triplet idea can be extended towards the co-operation within groups where individuals can develop orthogonalized like skills to allow for maximum evolutionary powers to defeat competing groups. The orthogonalization process should ultimo lead towards a global co-operation of maximal focussed specialist know how and skills to overcome our global survival problems.