Plato’s Cave July 19, 2020 

News, Fake News, and Opinion: Navigating Truth

During our ‘Open Mic’ discussion last week, Jim Diggs started us on a quest in search for honest facts and truth in a sea of the riptides of bias and fake news. The group decided to continue our quest for truth this week. I recommended a book by Professor Emeritus William Gardner titled “Handling Truth: Navigating the Riptides of Rhetoric, Religion, Reason, and Research”. (available on Amazon) Dr. Gardner received a Ph.D. in General Experimental Psychology from the University of Alabama; he spent a year studying language at the University of Wisconsin, and occasionally during his teaching career he took courses in philosophy. So, not only do we need to dig out true facts; we also need to understand the different domains that may be used to measure them: Since it is in our nature to search for truth, what is the truth? Gardner notes that some see truth as self-evident, absolute, and universal, whereas for others it is open to changing definition. Neither view helps us to understand it. Gardner describes the four established domains of truth: ARGUMENT, REVELATION, LOGIC, & MEASUREMENT

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Our Inquiring Minds group meets to discuss a chosen topic in an informal setting. Subjects include religion, current events, politics, and science, among others. Drop-in visitors are always welcome. Inquiring Minds information is also available at the Plato’s Cave meetup website: meetup.com/PlatosCave