Truth as Agonistic

Zygmunt Bauman makes an interesting observation in an article in the Journal of Human Rights (vol. 1, no. 3, September 2002, p. 300): "Truth is an eminently agonistic concept; it is born of the confrontation between beliefs resistant to reconciliation and between their carriers unwilling to compromise. Short of such a confrontation, the idea of 'truth' would hardly have occurred in the first place.... Disputing truth is a response to the 'cognitive dissonance.' ... The stake in disputing the truth, and the primary purpose of self-assertion, is the proof that the partner/adversary is in the wrong and therefore the objections are invalid and may be disregarded."