30 Philosophers, Chapter 20, Francis Bacon, Touchstone 49: Absolute Truth.

Truth is the successful correspondence between a proposition and reality, and human absolute truths do not exist. They only exists in nature. The idea that humans possess it is a thinking error. Objective reality refers to the material world as it is—reality that exists independently of human thoughts, beliefs, and emotions. This is the metaphysical “split” discussed in the Idea of Ideas, between the Material World and our ideas. The belief in objective reality is key to science, law, and journalism.

To be clear, absolute truth is not the same as our Empirical Ideas about it. Objective reality is on the other side of the “split” from our ideas. Absolute truth concerns reality as it is, while our ideas represent our best descriptions of it and are still subject to fallibility.

Analysis: This view of absolute truth has similarities to Kant’s distinction between phenomena and noumena. Both perspectives recognize an underlying reality beyond human perception. However, while Kant maintains that the noumenal world is ultimately unknowable and serves as a limiting concept to our understanding, this view asserts that absolute truth exists in nature, while our ideas about it are descriptive and subject to continuous refinement.