Mathematical logic deals in absolute truth; culture deals in relative truth. Saint-Exupéry put it this way:
Truth is not that which can be demonstrated by the aid of logic. If orange-trees are hardy and rich in fruit in this bit of soil and not that, then this bit of soil is what is truth for orange-trees. If a particular religion, or culture, or scale of values, if one form of activity rather than another, brings self-fulfilment to a man, releases the prince asleep within him unknown to himself, then that scale of values, that culture, that form of activity, constitute his truth. Logic, you say? Let logic wangle its own explanation of life. (Quoted from Wind, Sand and Stars, the edition republished in Airman’s Odyssey, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. 1939. Reynal & Hitchcock. p. 158.)
For a brief biography of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, click here.
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