The Truth About Reality

Basing consideration upon a characterization of reason in its deductive, inductive, and ethical functioning, Goldstick asks what must hold good for reason so characterized to be a dependable guide to truth.

Reality is the one word that describes everything we live in, everything we know, knew, and will. It represents time, space, and all the other possible dimensions. But what exactly is reality? In his book, The Bitter Truth of Reality, author Mahmoud Elsayed attempts to answer this complex query by taking a journey through physics, biology, human anatomy, history, philosophy, and even religions. Hopefully, by the end of this book, the reader will find an answer to this question that sits at the top of the existential questions list. It also offers an opportunity for its readers to come to terms with being an ordinary human within the shadow of the grand scheme of all existence. Humanity currently lives in a time when rationality is prioritized above everything else. We define reality by what our minds process to be true from data our senses can provide us. As a result, each of us treats any idea, belief, or experience that fails logic as impossible or flawed. But should humanity put faith in how our limited biology interprets reality around us, and can we rely on our minds to tell us everything there is to know about us, our universe - or even what's outside of it? This book describes how mankind, in search of objective insight, has entrusted science with the duty of filtering reality from the surreal. However, in place of answers, scientific inquiry might be doomed to discover only more questions. In the end, how can we tell apart what is real, and how does this change what we know about ourselves? The more we develop as a species, the more questions we will ask about the truth of our existence. Are we here on purpose? Or are we the result of some cosmic accident? More inquires and discussions in The Bitter Truth of reality.

Can we trust our senses to tell us the truth? Challenging leading scientific theories that claim that our senses report back objective reality, cognitive scientist Donald Hoffman argues that while we should take our perceptions seriously, we should not take them literally. From examining why fashion designers create clothes that give the illusion of a more “attractive” body shape to studying how companies use color to elicit specific emotions in consumers, and even dismantling the very notion that spacetime is objective reality, The Case Against Reality dares us to question everything we thought we knew about the world we see.

Fake news posts and Twitter trolls were just the beginning. What will happen when misinformation moves from our social media feeds into our everyday lives? Online disinformation stormed our political process in 2016 and has only worsened since. Yet as Samuel Woolley shows in this urgent book, it may pale in comparison to what's to come: humanlike automated voice systems, machine learning, "deepfake" AI-edited videos and images, interactive memes, virtual reality, and more. These technologies have the power not just to manipulate our politics, but to make us doubt our eyes and ears and even feelings. Deeply researched and compellingly written, The Reality Game describes the profound impact these technologies will have on our lives. Each new invention built without regard for its consequences edges us further into this digital dystopia. Yet Woolley does not despair. Instead, he argues pointedly for a new culture of innovation, one built around accountability and especially transparency. With social media dragging us into a never-ending culture war, we must learn to stop fighting and instead prevent future manipulation. This book shows how we can use our new tools not to control people but to empower them.

The papers in this collection discuss the central questions about the connections between language, reality and human understanding. The complex relations between accounts of meaning and facts about ordinary speakers’ understanding of their language are examined so as to illuminate the philosophical character of the connections between language and reality. The collection as a whole is a thematically unified treatment of some of the most central questions within contemporary philosophy of language.

It's not a scientific truth that has come into question lately but the truth--the very notion of scientific truth. Bringing a reasonable voice to the culture wars that have sprung up around this notion, this book offers a clear and constructive response to those who contend, in parodies, polemics and op-ed pieces, that there really is no such thing as verifiable objective truth--without which there could be no such thing as scientific authority. A distinguished physicist with a rare gift for making the most complicated scientific ideas comprehensible, Roger Newton gives us a guided tour of the intellectual structure of physical science. From there he conducts us through the understanding of reality engendered by modern physics, the most theoretically advanced of the sciences. With its firsthand look at models, facts, and theories, intuition and imagination, the use of analogies and metaphors, the importance of mathematics (and now, computers), and the "virtual" reality of the physics of micro-particles, The Truth of Science truly is a practicing scientist's account of the foundations, processes, and value of science. To claims that science is a social construction, Newton answers with the working scientist's credo: "A body of assertions is true if it forms a coherent whole and works both in the external world and in our minds." The truth of science, for Newton, is nothing more or less than a relentless questioning of authority combined with a relentless striving for objectivity in the full awareness that the process never ends. With its lucid exposition of the ideals, methods, and goals of science, his book performs a great feat in service of this truth.

This Elibron Classics title is a reprint of the original edition published by the Clarendon Press, 1914, Oxford

_________________ 'Macdonald zeros in on the slipperiness of factuality, offering an array of case studies from the worlds of history, commerce and - of course - politics.' New York Times True or false? It's rarely that simple. There is always more than one truth in every story. Eating meat is nutritious but it's also damaging to the environment. The Internet disseminates knowledge but it also spreads hatred. As communicators, we select the truths that are most useful to our agenda. We can select truths constructively to inspire nations, encourage children, and drive progressive change. Or we can select truths that give a false impression of reality, misleading people without actually lying. Others can do the same, motivating or deceiving us with the truth. In Truth, communications strategy expert Hector Macdonald explores how truth is used and abused in politics, business, the media and everyday life. Combining great storytelling with practical takeaways and a litany of fascinating, funny and insightful case studies, Truth is a chilling and engaging read about how profoundly our mindsets and actions are influenced by the truths that those around us choose to tell. For fans of Factfulness,A Field Guide to Lies and StatisticsandThe Art of Thinking Clearly, a fascinating dive into the many ways in which 'competing truths' shape our opinions, behaviours and beliefs.