The fallacy of absolute truth

A quick post today as school has started and I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed and underprepared.

I serve on an institutional review board (we oversee all human subject research for the institution) and today we got into a discussion around cultural relativism and beliefs and idealogies of certain sectors of our population. Upon reflecting on this meeting, what was fascinating is that the group (medical doctors and researchers) did not recognize that they too, are a "certain sector or our population" with certain beliefs and ideologies. Yes, scientists work within the framework of empirical data, which by the very way in which it is presented may seem like the "truth", but does that make it any more correct or incorrect than those who work off of other systems of problem solving?

To complicate the situation, scientists often claim to have the answer, but then with more knowledge (often from the severe adverse effects/outcomes), that answer changes (use of DDT to kill bedbugs; giving menopausal women hormone therapy, using radiation to determine if a woman was pregnant). What was a "truth" suddenly becomes an "untruth". It is no wonder that we become overwhelmed (and feel underprepared) about how to act/what to do/how to respond "correctly" to a situation. In our society it seems like the scientific community pushes us one way and we tend to believe them because they work on the "absolute truth" framework of empirical science. Then the watchdog media says another thing entirely. Meanwhile, many of us ignore our own intuition and our own interpretation of our surroundings.

Today's meeting reminded me of the importance to maintain an open mind; to aknowledge and listen to all sides; to follow gut instinct and to be cognizant of the fact that we are all products of the political, social, economic etc. environment in which we live and are trained professionally. There is no absolute truth about anything. I think everything has to be considered within its context. It would behoove us to consider different interpretations of a situation; to step outside our own culturally constructed framework and look at it from a different completely belief system. We might learn something.