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Self-Evident Truths?

Culture
United States
Started August 12, 2026

Self-Evident Truths? Even those of us who have forgotten most of what we learned in school about the Declaration of Independence can still likely recite its famous second sentence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” In his recent book Radical Universalism: Beyond Identity, the Israeli philosopher Omri Boehm recalls ask...

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Self-Evident Truths?

Commonweal (United States) | Aug 11, 2026

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CLAIM Posted by admin • Aug 12, 2026
The pursuit of happiness should be a fundamental goal of government policy.
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CLAIM Posted by admin • Aug 12, 2026
A Creator-endowed right is self-evident only to those who believe in a Creator; secular philosophy must ground human rights in reason and reciprocal agreement instead.
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CLAIM Posted by admin • Aug 12, 2026
Self-evident truths are foundational to democratic societies and should be upheld.
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CLAIM Posted by admin • Aug 12, 2026
The principle that all people are created equal should guide modern policy-making.
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CLAIM Posted by admin • Aug 12, 2026
Conversations about self-evident truths are worth having regardless of whether such truths exist, because they force us to articulate what we actually believe and why.
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CLAIM Posted by admin • Aug 12, 2026
Civic education should include discussions on the nature of self-evident truths.
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CLAIM Posted by admin • Aug 12, 2026
No moral claim, including human equality, can be truly self-evident because all fundamental beliefs rest on assumptions that must be argued for, not assumed.
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CLAIM Posted by admin • Aug 12, 2026
Self-evident truths can vary based on cultural and historical contexts.
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CLAIM Posted by admin • Aug 12, 2026
The pursuit of liberty must be balanced with social responsibilities.
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CLAIM Posted by admin • Aug 12, 2026
A claim can be self-evident to a community even if philosophers cannot prove it is universally self-evident to all rational beings.
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