The Difficult Task of Searching for Truth

Looking at the treatment of myth in Ancient Greece may help us navigate what is true, and whether that matters. Dr. Joel Christensen

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I have recently subscribed to brewminate.com and theconversation.com. Both journals are run by academics whose articles are intended to present expert opinions to the public.

From Brewminate, we quote the following answer (to What are we about, what are we trying to do here?):

It is important that we open avenues of productive dialogue between experts and non-experts — both of whom I try to bring together here — to elevate the greater discussion of ideas among the engaged populace. This is ultimately about serendipitous connections — academic, lifestyle, miscellaneous, and news articles posted to draw connections.

The Conversation summarizes in its motto the answers to these questions:

Academic rigour, journalistic flair

I will dedicate the first review of these digital journals to the following article:

‘Alternative Facts’ among the Ancient Greeks by Dr. Joel Christensen, Associate Professor of Classical Studies at Brandeis University.

The author studies The Theogony, a poem by Hesiod about the origin of the universe and the gods. The Muses, inspirational goddesses of the arts, science, and literature, appeared to the narrator and presented the truth in three different versions. From this, Dr. Christensen assumes that ancient Greeks “had different ways of thinking about narrative and truth than we do today.”

He then goes on to explain three different approaches to dealing with the truth:

1. A theological, establishing “a distinction between human beliefs and divine knowledge, reserving the ability to distinguish the truth for the gods alone.”
2. Philosophical distinctions between appearance and reality. Hesiod sets out a metaphysical foundation: “The truth exists, but it is hard to comprehend, which establishes truth as a fundamental feature of the universe.”
3. A scientific, based on modern research in cognitive science and memory. Here, he mentions the work of memory scientist Martin Conway in studying how people construct stories about the world and themselves. He argued that two basic tendencies, correspondence, and coherence, govern our memories:

Correspondence refers to how well our memory fits with verifiable facts, or what actually happened.

Coherence is the human tendency to select details which fit our assumptions about the world and who we are. Conway’s studies indicate that we tend to select memories about the past and make observations on the present which confirm our narrative of what actually happened.

We already know that much of what we understand about the world is interpreted and “filled in” by our creative and efficient brains. It should be of little surprise that we selectively pick memories to represent an absolute truth, even as we continually revise it.

As individuals and groups, what we accept as “true” is conditioned by our biases and by what we want the truth to be.

Dr. Christensen ends his analysis of Hesiod’s “Theogony” as follows:

With this in mind, the Muses’ warning not to obsess about whether the details in a myth are true seems appropriate — especially if a narrative making sense is more important than it being “true.”

What Hesiod’s story tells his audience is that the truth is out there, but it is hard work to figure out.

Figuring it out requires us to listen to the stories people tell and think about how they might seem true to them. That means not overreacting when we hear something unfamiliar that goes against what we think we know.

There will be different interpretations of the stories of the Ancient Greeks, and Dr. Christensen is one of them. What I found particularly interesting in this review is how the author deals with the importance of truth from a theological, philosophical, and scientific approach, drawing a conclusion where we construct our realities in a subjective and personal way.

In the era of digital technology, the developments of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, and Big Data make it even more challenging to distinguish between truth and fakeness. Here is where a final quote from the essay makes sense:

Don’t worry about what it is true or not. Just try to make sense of the story as you encounter it, based on the details it provides.