Truth

What It Is, How to Find It, and Why It Still Matters

Inbunden, Engelska, 2026

331 kr

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Beskrivning

A clear-eyed look at thinking straight in a world crowded with noise, bias, and misinformation."Fake news." "Alternative facts." "Post-truth." Misinformation is everywhere, sparking public confusion and polarization. In Truth, best-selling author Michael Shermer cuts through the noise to argue that not only does truth still matter—but also that it's essential to our individual and collective flourishing. This sharp-sighted and accessible book provides a framework for thinking more clearly in an age clouded by doubt and distortion.Shermer, the author of Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational, explores why truth deserves our attention, how falsehoods take hold in the public's imagination, and how we can resist manipulation through reason, evidence, and open inquiry. This book introduces powerful tools for evaluating claims, including the concepts of causality, correlation, and Bayesian reasoning. Beyond these abstract ideas, Shermer also examines how we determine truth in specific domains—such as science, history, and religion—and brings clarity to hot-button topics like UFOs, conspiracy theories, miracles, mystical experiences, consciousness, morality, God, and even existence. With his trademark wit and intellectual rigor, Shermer reveals how even the most intelligent among us fall prey to such pitfalls as "myside bias" and motivated reasoning and how a commitment to universal realism can help push back against tribalism and misinformation.Truth offers a timely antidote to cynicism and confusion. It emphasizes critical thinking and urges readers to rebuild the intellectual foundations of a functioning democracy by embracing the pursuit of truth, however complex or inconvenient it may be.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2026-03-02
Mått:220 x 30 x 150 mm
Vikt:640 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:384
Förlag:Johns Hopkins University Press
ISBN:9781421453729

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Mer om författaren

Michael Shermer is the publisher of Skeptic magazine, the executive director of the Skeptics Society, and the host of the popular podcast The Michael Shermer Show. He is the author of Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational; Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time; and The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies—How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths.

Innehållsförteckning

Prologue. Why Truth MattersSkepticism as an Agent of Reason Against Organized IrrationalismPart I. Known KnownsChapter 1. The Truth About Post-Truth TruthinessWhy We Are Not Living in a Post-Truth, Postmodern, Fact-Free WorldChapter 2. What Is Truth, Anyway?Justified True Belief, the Principle of Universal Realism, and Why Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary EvidenceChapter 3. The Truth About WhyCausation, Correlation, Bayesian Reasoning, Signal Detection Theory, and the Determination of Cause and EffectChapter 4. The Truth About Coincidences and MiraclesHow to Think About Highly Unlikely EventsPart II. Known UnknownsChapter 5. Religious and Mythic TruthsHow to Think About the Resurrection and Other MythsChapter 6. Historical TruthsThe Noble Dream of Pursuing Objective Truth About the PastChapter 7. Moral TruthsScience and the Search for Objective Universal ValuesChapter 8. Alien TruthsUFOs and the Search for Sky GodsPart III. Known UnknowablesChapter 9. The Truth About ConsciousnessWhat Is It Like to Be You?Chapter 10. The Truth About Free WillDeterminism, Self-Determinism, and Your Future SelfChapter 11. The Truth About GodArguments For and Against the DivineChapter 12. The Truth About ExistenceWhy There Is Something Rather Than NothingEpilogue. Like GodsThe Expanding Sphere of Knowledge and My God GambitAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex