Truth in a Relativistic Society

Abstract

Mass media, especially television and the Internet, have a decisive impact on the shape of modern society. They dictate cultural fashions and shape social mentality and imagination; they disseminate a certain manner of thinking and opinions on the reality as well as “modern” lifestyle intended by the broadcaster. Mass media message addressed to a so- called ordinary man is mostly prepared in such a way so that it should achieve the result expected by the broadcaster. Thus it is accompanied by some form of manipulation. This message reaches the society that due to the three-century-old erosion of the notion of truth professes relativism to some extent. There is no objective truth which would bind everybody, but everyone has their “own” truth. The consequence of this approach is the “dictatorship of relativism”, as Benedict XVI put it. It is dangerous for the Church and her mission as She is accused of imposing on others her own religious truth. This leads to the actual dissolution of society understood as a moral community. Therefore, the Catholic Church (John Paul II, Benedict XVI) persistently defends reason and its ability to learn the truth as well as the truth itself inscribed in the creation by the Creator. In the context of lack of faith in reason and human faculties of learning the objective truth, the concept of God–Logos and the postulate of “extended rationality” developed by Josef Ratzinger is of paramount importance.