Jonah wants to know:

There are more persuasive games to be played in order demonstrate that there is truth out there (think science, math, Irish whiskey). But Matt isn't saying (I assume) that there isn't any such thing as truth, he's saying he doesn't believe in moral truth.

Well, actually, the science and math aren't examples of truth, either (I can't speak to Irish whiskey, though I suspect that Goedel would shoot that one down as well). No, sorry, there is no absolute truth of any kind, moral or otherwise, sad to say. Scientific truth is so only in the context of science. If you don't accept the premises of science, or the postulates of math, then there's no truth to be found there, either. It's a cruel world for conservatives.

That doesn't mean that we shouldn't defend our civilization from barbarous misogynistic Islamonutballs, though.

"there is no absolute truth of any kind, moral or otherwise"
= assertion of absolute truth

DOES NOT COMPUTE

Let the dorm-room, bong-hit philosophising begin!

Bruce, this sentence is false.

Kind of like Obi Wan telling Vader "Only a Sith Lord thinks in absolutes" (I believe I got the quote right from memory) That's what gets me about the moral relativism arguement. The entire premise is based on a contradiction. To say that "there are no absolutes" is an absolute statement. I firmly believe in absolute values. As I read on the Corner today, genocide would still be wrong, even if the whole world wanted it to be right.

I believe quite strongly in absolutes. Most of the ones involving relativity or quantum matters just have no relevance to us, since the perspective of the viewer is what matters. But that doesn't mean the absolutes don't exist.

Reality is optional until your face hits the concrete.

We can argue objective truth vs. subjective truth until the sun expands. But I think one truth we can all agree on is the the world would be much better without islamofacist nutjobs.

Irish Whiskey is an absolute, especially Readbreast 12 y/o single malt which I'm drinking now.

Irish Whiskey is an absolute...

I thought that was a Vodka... ;-)

To Quote Mr Scott:

"Captain, I can not break the laws of Physics!"

I can not break the laws of Physics!

Except when you can. Quantum theory indicates that you can in fact break the laws of physics, but it's highly unlikely. The laws of physics work well enough in their realm, but that doesn't make them Truth, or absolute. For instance, we don't know that they're really universal--we simply assume it.

Reality is optional until your face hits the concrete.

When falling, simply forget to hit the ground.

Is it even coherent to deny the axiom of identity, eg?

Does truth not exist because madmen don't "accept" it, or because it's not impossible, at the grammatical level, to deny it?

Reality (or truth), to paraphrase someone, is what you can't change by denying or ignoring it. (Gravity operates even on madmen that think they can fly; math continues to work and, for instance, describe gravity - when combined with physics - even if one somehow denies its postulates.)

If there is no "truth", then it's very odd that we can so successfully model and predict things, isn't it?

For there to be no truth, there must be no Reality... and denial of Reality is essentially incoherent in itself. (By which I mean, given that there is a Reality, a state of things that Actually Is Regardless Of What We Think About It, there must be "truth", which is to say an accurate description of that Reality.

What we think is true, of course, is another matter and much more fallible. But the existnce of truth as such cannot be rationally denied, I think.)

At least I got something out of that philosophy degree...

"there is no absolute truth of any kind, moral or otherwise,..."

(cackle) This is the part where I like to put a philosopher in the back seat of the Citabria, pull power at 5,000 feet, and point the thing at the lake, just to hear him draw that panicked breath that tells him just how wrong he is.

Stop being a dope, Rand. This is bullshit.