Public Truth Systems
3 Truth Hammers
Public truth = Science + Law + Journalism.
CRITICAL THINKING START
Think Well Path: 5-4-3
Start here if your first question is:
“How do I think more clearly?”
The Think Well Path begins with the tools of judgment. You’ll explore how ideas form, how reasoning works, how thinking goes wrong, and how public truth is tested through science, law, and journalism.
This is the 5-4-3 path: Five Thought Tools, Four Mind Traps, and Three Truth Hammers. It is TST’s practical path for sharpening your mind, testing claims, and building intellectual discipline.
CORE READING
A 5-4-3 structured model for disciplined thinking.
Recent Tidbits:
Stories, Quotes, and FAQs.
The wisdom builder tidbits that feed the columns, articles, and trainer.
Three Truth Hammers
Featured Story
Updated This Week
History
Story
Reality First Thinking
Thales is remembered because he helped shift explanation toward the natural world. His answers were primitive by modern standards, but his instinct was correct: start with what exists, observe carefully, and search for natural causes. To think well, look at reality clearly and let it mold your ideas.
Featured QUOTE
Critical Thinking
Quote
“If you are willing to lie to win a debate, you are debating without honor.”
- Michael Alan Prestwood
- 2015
Debate should serve truth.
Inspired by debates between Clinton and Trump.
Living well includes living with honor. A good debate is not just about making the strongest argument. It is also about how you conduct yourself while making it. Listen fairly, acknowledge what is true, and never knowingly distort or invent facts to win. You may lose a point and still keep something more important: your honor. Your goal is to seek truth and retain the friendship of your adversary.
Featured FAQ
Critical Thinking
FAQ
When is an idea a direct or indirect description of reality?
Direct and Indirect Ideas
The difference between empirical and rational ideas is not certainty or complexity. It is how they connect to reality. Some rational ideas, like basic arithmetic, sit only one layer from observation. Others build through many layers. Ask what the idea ultimately points at, and how many conceptual steps stand between it and the world.
Updated Tidbits
Three Truth Hammers
Public Truth Systems
Testing claims against reality.
Truth Hammers are review-based public truth systems that help societies test claims against shared reality. They do not create truth, but they provide structured ways to review claims, challenge error, and move closer to it.
Deep-Dive Articles
TST Philosophy of Fiction: Imaginative Realism
Fiction is not created from nothing; it is the recombination of real impressions into imagined things.
Irrational Ideas: The Subtypes
When you encounter an irrational idea, first ask whether it is speculative or disproven.
Irrational Ideas: The Subtypes
When you encounter an irrational idea, first ask whether it is speculative or disproven.
TST Philosophy of History
History is the empirical past. Historical writing is rational narrative that aligns with reality.
Idea Theory Framework
The Idea Theory Framework within the Idea of Ideas is a promotion ladder for ideas to move from speculation to hypothesis, theory, and law.
Must-Reads
Philosophy of Law
Nonpartisan: The Federalist Papers and Presidential Impeachment
Impeachment is not a normal criminal trial. It is a constitutional political process designed to protect the public trust when federal officials abuse power, show ...
Philosophy of Law
Parable of the Ship by Roger Williams, 1655
Roger Williams’ 1655 Parable of the Ship is used as an illustration of separation of church and state, liberty, and the common good. In this ...
Philosophy of Law
Idea: Comprehensive Gun Control
For those that say we cannot do anything about gun violence, here is a list of items we can implement. This represents some of the ...
New Ideas
Idea of Ideas
Idea Theory Framework
The Idea Theory Framework within the Idea of Ideas is a promotion ladder for ideas to move from speculation to hypothesis, theory, and law.
Ancient Humans
Holistic Paleolithic Framework: A New Look at Prehistory
A new look at dividing up the paleolithic era switches from lower, middle, and upper to Stone, Fire, Cultural, Symbolic, Cognitive, and prehistory ending specifically ...
Philosophy of Journalism
The Living Touchstone
As part of critical thinking, the philosophy of journalism can help us enter the age of AI, where truth and untruth live on equal plain. ...
Updated Articles