A philosophy debate! Hurray!
Surely you acknowledge that many disagree with the claim that truth is absolute.
Either way, what YOU consider to be true - your subjective perception of what is - is entirely generated by a consensus among your neurons. Even if some absolute truth is out there, only the conception of it in your mind is accessible to you.
Truth is a fact, it's not a consensus among neurons. End of debate.
Truth is a link to thefreedictionary.com on the Internet.
The nature of the definition of truth as absolute comes from a warped perception of reality as having qualities that are persistent and unchanging. Since everything is, in fact, in persistent flux (can you name one thing that isn't?), every conception relating to any aspect of reality is merely a snapshot of an ongoing process. A narrow simulacrum of the spectrum of reality available to you through your senses, meant to serve you as you make decisions that benefit you in your environment. When you conceive of anything, the reality from which that conception has risen has already changed.
Not only that, but any access to reality (absolute or not) that you may have relies on these same senses, only able to provide you with a limited and entirely subjective view after being integrated and constructed by your brain.
Let's examine the definition you point to:
a. Conformity to fact or actuality: Does this story have any truth?
b. Reality; actuality: In truth, he was not qualified for the job.
c. The reality of a situation: The truth is, she respects your work.
Definition
a talks about a story. And what is a story, if not a subjective assessment of reality? When trying to ascertain the validity of a story you hear - even assuming the reality it's based on still exists in something close to the form originating the story - you form your own story. Who decides, then, whether a story has any truth? How does a group of people determine whether to stamp something with the label "true"?
Definition
b discusses a person's qualification for a job. Who decides whether a person has the necessary skills and experience for a job? Is there an objective assessment of this?
Definition
c talks about a person's assessment of another person's view of another person's (let's call him Bob) work.
The claim that that some person respects Bob's work is entirely subjective and depends on the view of that person of the person who supposedly respects the work. Another person may receive similar information and get to a different conclusion. Who decides, then, whether the person respects Bob's work?
The person assessing Bob's work herself decides whether or not she does this based on her completely subjective criteria. Importantly, if you were to examine her brain and decision making processes, you would see that in some of these criteria, let's say 3 out of the 10 that form the notion of respect, Bob's work doesn't actually deem it. However, using the rest of the criteria - most dimensions of it - relevant to her subjective judgment of work respect, Bob's work passes. When asked whether it's true that she respects Bob's work, that person's assessment would reflect the consensus generated by her neurons - each group representing a different criteria, and coming together to determine whether there's more agreement about Bob passing than not - and the answer would be in accord.
The truth of her claim, then - whether she respects Bob or not - depends on a consensus among her neurons. The truth of the observer of her answer about respect depends on his perception of her answer and his inner consensus about whether or not it reflected her inner state accurately.
***
As your perception is entirely subjective, and as there are no objective means to survey reality, the notion of truth as absolute is simply not useful - and anyone making a claim to that implicitly suggests that he has means that you do not.
Truth is a notion created in your subjective mind to form a judgment that you can then utilize about your perceived environment.
Truth is only as true as it is useful.
Now back to work with me!
