From Wikipedia: Truth is conformity to reality or fact. It contrasts with falsity or misrepresentation that fails to align with the world. Truth is typically treated as a property of truthbearers, such as sentences, propositions, or beliefs that describe things as they are.

It’s been said that we each have our own truth. However, that conflicts with the definition of truth. It would be better said that we each have our own opinions or beliefs of what the truth is, and how do we arrive at that? It would seem that one’s place of birth (environment), one’s experiences, the degree of study or lack of study, influence of one’s peers and family, prejudices and biases, and other trusted sources of information all converge to produce those opinions and beliefs. One could say we’re born into many of our beliefs.

The problem arises when one refuses to acknowledge that their opinions and beliefs might be erroneous. When one refuses to consider conflicting information and evidence with an open mind, such a one will inevitably respond to such conflicting evidence and information, the challenge to their opinions and beliefs, in anger and with ad hominem attacks on the messenger rather than offering evidence and data to the contrary; reasonable and amicable debate. Such a one would be demonstrating their ignorance. Anyone who doubts this need only read the comments section of any social media platform, substack, or podcast.

From Merriam Webster: Ignorance is the state or fact of being ignorant : lack of knowledge, education, or awareness.

I will freely admit to being ignorant. I know little of advanced physics, brain surgery, complicated math, so when I declare someone to be ignorant, it’s not a pejorative. It’s simply recognizing that they lack knowledge, education, or awareness of the matter in question. On the other hand, I know a great deal about geo-politics, history, and religion. I’ve gained knowledge and education and I am continuously aware of developments of additional evidence, data, and information in those fields. While imperfect, my beliefs and understandings are based on extensive study. I’m a skeptic. I question truth claims and don’t allow my pride or prejudice to keep me from changing my mind based on additional data, evidence, and verifiable information.

From Wikipedia: Critical thinking is the process of analyzing available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments to reach sound conclusions or informed choices. It involves recognizing underlying assumptions, providing justifications for ideas and actions, evaluating these justifications through comparisons with varying perspectives, and assessing their rationality and potential consequences. The goal of critical thinking is to form a judgment through the application of rational, skeptical, and unbiased analyses and evaluations.

People who fail to think critically are typically locked into beliefs and opinions that are untrue or only partially true. Never-the-less, they will adamantly defend those opinions and beliefs with angry attacks against anyone who doubts them rather than consider that it’s possible they could be in error.

I’ll raise my hand and admit I’ve been guilty of this in the past. We all have. But show me new evidence, new data, a better argument … I’ll change my mind. Will you?