"A man's reach must exceed his grasp or what's a metaphor?"
~ Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media
Bret Weinstein used the terms "metaphorical truth" and "literal truth" to sort through religious wisdom and scientific knowledge.
Johnathan Pageau called him on a problem with this thinking - as soon as you step into metaphorical language and put one value above the other, you are speaking religiously, hierarchically.
Jordan Peterson tried to help them sort that out. My challenge to all of them - how about using terms like "shared facts" and "verifiability" instead?
I made a video to explain my thinking, and sort out three popular types of verifiability. I hope you have a moment to look at this: https://youtu.be/z0s6NqlAgDE
Facts, claims, beliefs and truths are all worry-words. So, when things get muddy or grey, why not honestly explore how a community actually verifies what has to be shared?
Please let me know you what you think. Cheers.
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