How to Know What’s True
Did you guys know that the earth is flat, Bigfoot is real, aliens seeded life on this planet, and multiple people that we’ve met be gettin’ abducted by them? If you don’t think it’s true, just look at all the evidence! Science proves it!
Paige and I get exposed to all manner of ideas. In a world full of opinions, social media debates, and conspiracy theories, it’s hard to know what to believe! Some people say they “believe the science.” Others say, “scientists can’t make up their minds and it’s always changing.” Then I throw in a quote from some ancient philosopher, and things get even more confusing!
But seriously, friends, if we want to live honestly and understand each other to the best of our abilities, we need to know the difference between science, pseudoscience, and philosophy, if we’re going to think clearly about what’s true.
Science is often referenced against religious traditions, but it is not a belief system. It’s a method. It touches on a completely different part of what we experience and is effectively barred from answering certain questions. It IS the best tool we have for figuring out what’s true about the physical world, however. Here’s what science actually is in a nutshell.
Scientists make an educated guess (called a hypothesis) about how something works. Then they test it by trying to disprove it in every possible way, often under different conditions and repeated trials. If the guess still holds up—great! But other scientists will repeat the process to prove it wrong, ideally tackling it from different angles. If it doesn’t, the idea gets refined or thrown out altogether.
This is where the word FALSIFIABILITY comes in. For something to be scientific, it must be able to be proven wrong. If your idea can’t ever be tested or proven false, it isn’t science and it never will be. Some simple examples: “Water boils at 100°C at sea level.” That’s testable. You can boil water and check.
“Crystals align your energy.” That’s vague and untestable. Some part of it could be true! Perhaps crystals really do modify vibrational frequency with a certain radius, but we can’t measure ambiguous “energy alignment” in that way. We need parameters, specifics, definitions, and means of testing. As it’s currently structured, it’s not falsifiable. It might make someone feel better, which has tons of value, but it’s not science.
Pseudoscience looks like science. It uses scientific-E-sounding words. But it doesn’t follow the rules of actual science. The number one identifier of pseudoscience is that it can’t be proven wrong (not falsifiable). And lots of claims can’t be proven wrong that aren’t! But it runs a bit deeper.
Pseudoscience often doesn’t change when evidence says it should. It relies on personal stories (anecdotes) instead of statistics and empirical data, because it’s using those stories to build its case rather than destroy it (like science hopes to). It might even use academic sounding, yet defensibly ambiguous language to sound like it knows what’s up.
While the language of science might be confusing to those unfamiliar, it is due to the need for specificity. Specificity is needed for falsifiability, annoying as it may be to some. Whereas the language of pseudoscience is, itself, confused.
Think of pseudoscience like a costume! It looks like the real thing from a distance, but it falls apart when you ask hard questions. It’s kind of like an inverted form of science. Science seeks to disapprove. Pseudoscience seeks to prove. It works to build evidence for its claim, instead of against it.
Philosophy on the other hand isn’t about test tubes, experiments, or randomized controlled trials. Although those might help inform it. It’s about thinking clearly, asking the right questions, and comprehending nuance and complexity. It’s not in competition with anything. It’s an assist to our interface with the world. Even an assist to science, helping us remain intellectually honest or generate interesting hypotheses.
Philosophers ask deep questions like. What is truth? How can we know what’s true? Why do we believe what we do? Philosophy helps us understand how we think, how we reason, how to live well, how to form moral frameworks, and how we make meaning in the world. While science looks outward to the physical world, philosophy looks inward, or at the ideas underpinning the science. E.g. Why are we studying this over that? How can we utilize the science most effectively?
Sometimes, science starts as philosophy. For example, early thinkers such as Epicurus once wondered if everything was made of tiny particles. That was a philosophical idea before we had microscopes and atomic theory to test it!
To not be dragged along by ideas simply because they “sound good,” to separate fact from fiction, we need some basic tools. I’ve compiled four umbrella principles.
1. Falsifiability
If an idea can’t be tested and possibly proven wrong, it isn’t science.
Example: “Shapeshifting lizard people secretly control the world, disguise themselves perfectly, and erase any evidence of their existence.”
That can’t be tested or disproven and any missing proof just gets blamed on the cover-up. That makes it unfalsifiable, and therefore not scientific.
2. Occam’s Razor
The simplest explanation that fits the facts is usually the best. Don’t add complicated bits unless there’s strong evidence.
Example: You see a strange light in the sky. Is it an alien spacecraft… or just an aircraft you don’t recognize?
Unless there’s solid proof of aliens, the simpler explanation (a plane, drone, or satellite) is more likely, regardless of whether or not you recognize it.
3. Logical Fallacies
We’ve covered these on several occasions, but to recap: These are arguments that sound convincing but make some mistake. Such as the Strawman: Misrepresenting someone’s idea to make it easier to attack. An Appeal to Authority: “The CDC said it, so it must be true.” Post Hoc: “I wore lucky socks and won the game, so the socks caused it.”
There are countless fallacies used against us every day.
4. Cognitive Biases
These are mental shortcuts our brains take that can lead us to the wrong conclusion. Like Confirmation Bias: We only look for information that supports what we already believe. The Dunning-Kruger Effect: People who know Jack-squat about something tend to think they know a lot. And the Bandwagon Effect: Believing something because a bunch of other people do.
Is There a Point to All This? Yeppirz! We strive to make long-winded points! We live in an age where anyone can say anything, and it can spread around the world in seconds. That makes it more important than ever to think clearly! A lot of misinformation means doing something that might either harm ourselves or someone else, so this is as important a topic as the people who want to see a more unified world could cover or learn about.
Science helps us understand the world. Philosophy helps us understand ourselves. Pseudoscience confuses both. If we want to live honest lives, if we want to understand each other instead of talking past each other, we have to learn how to tell the difference.
Ask better questions. Know you will be wrong. Be willing to change according to the evidence. Defend less. Listen more. Truth isn’t afraid of questions. If you don’t want to ask certain questions, why?
If we all just took a little more time to practice rationality (not just talk about it) we’d stop tearing each other apart, and start learning from each other.
If you want to live the most honest life possible, start by learning how to think, not just what to think. Question your own beliefs. Look for what could prove you wrong. Learn about logical fallacies and cognitive biases. Learn formal logic, if you really want to go the extra mile. Don’t believe something just because it feels good or someone you trust said it. And when someone disagrees with you, ask why they believe what they do with a curious hope that you might be wrong, that this might get you closer to a greater truth, even if they ARE wrong, rather than just trying to win.
Truth shouldn’t be a weapon. It can be a bridge. Let’s build the bridge together.
