
This philosophical treatise explores the nature of truth and knowledge. It argues that absolute certainty is unattainable and that all claims to truth are subject to doubt. The work critiques traditional notions of proof and evidence, suggesting that they are inherently flawed. Instead, it proposes a more nuanced understanding of truth as a product of social consensus and cultural context. The text also examines the role of language in shaping our perceptions of reality, highlighting the ways in which words can be used to deceive or manipulate others. Ultimately, the work presents a skeptical view of human knowledge, suggesting that we can never truly know anything with absolute certainty.
By B.M. Croker · First published 1920 · Genre: Biography, History, Cultural · 5,459 words
Look around, and above, with your mind's eye, and behold high hills and deep narrow valleys -- valleys overflowing with corn, and hills speckled with flocks; no, these are not the Alps, -- nor yet the Andes; the sturdy brown people have the Tartar type of face, their stubborn, shaggy ponies are of Thibetan breed. You stand on the borders of Nepaul, and among the lower slopes of the great Himalayas -- a remote district, but tolerably populated and prosperous. There are many snug, flat-roofed houses scattered up and down the niches in these staircase-like heights, encompassed with cowsheds, melon gardens, groves of walnut trees, and a few almost perpendicular acres of murga (grain); their proprietors are well-to-do, their wants inconsiderable, the possession of a pony, half a dozen goats, and a couple of milch buffaloes, constitutes a man of means, who is as happy in his way as, perhaps happier than, the English or Irish owner of a great landed estate. Moreover, this pastoral life has its pleasures: there are holy festivals, fairs, feasts, wrestling-matches, -- and occasionally a little gambling and cock-fighting. But even in these primitive mountain regions, life is not _all_ Arcadian simplicity; there are black spots on the sun of its existence, such as envy, hatred, malice, jealousy, false-witness, and murder.
Proven or not Proven? is listed on Textopian as a short story by B.M. Croker, dated 1920 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
Fiction · Historical Fiction · Literary Fiction · India · Pakistan · Partition · War · History · Culture · Identity · Family · Relationships