Episode #68 Is Truth Knowable?
Is the sky really blue? Did the moon landing even happen? Does God actually exist? This week, Dr. Michael Brown and Steve Rieske continue their conversation about our Country in Crisis by considering the distinction between confidence and certainty in our understanding of reality.
Show Notes
If someone tells me, ‘I don’t think God exists,’ I don’t agree with their conclusion about the evidence. But I also don’t think they’re insane.Steve Rieske
One Perspective
- Truth is knowable enough that we can make thoughtful and reasonable decisions but not knowable enough that we can eliminate the possibility that we might be wrong.
Three Problems
- It is difficult to have values-based discussions when we can’t first agree upon the facts.
- The unfortunate consequence of the notion that “everything is equally true” is the dangerous conviction that nothing is true.
- It is impossible for us to know everything about anything – let alone everything about everything.
Three Principles
- Everything that we believe today is based, at least in part, on faith that we accurately understand the available evidence.
- We can see the world more clearly when we carefully consider the realities right in front of our eyes.
- The more complex a reality, the more information we lack and more humility we require.
Three Practices
- Engage in every conversation believing that you are wrong about at least one thing.
- Lean into disagreement rather than responding in horror.
- Commit to pursuing the truth as if it actually exists (because it does).
In This Episode
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