We close the Understanding Philosophy series with truth in history and fiction. This column focuses on history. Next month, I’m appearing on the Audible River podcast, talking about spirituality. So next month, we’ll interrupt this series with Empirical Spirituality and the future of belief systems. In July, we’ll finalize this thread with fiction.
About how history works. If reality grounds truth, if belief requires justification, and if confidence comes in degrees, how do we handle stories — especially those about the past? History and fiction both shape our understanding, but they do not carry equal evidential weight. This issue explores how to evaluate narratives responsibly, distinguishing what likely happened from what merely resonates. The architecture only matters if we can live inside it.
