Truth and Authority

Why Reality—Not Credentials—Determines What Is True

A Plain Language Guide

David Allen LaPoint

Primerfield Foundation

The Big Idea

Here is the main point of this paper, stated as simply as possible:

What makes something true is whether it matches reality. It has nothing to do with who says it.

If a famous scientist says something false, it's still false. If a child says something true, it's still true. Credentials, degrees, job titles, fame, and social status do not change facts.

This might seem obvious. But in practice, people often confuse two very different questions:

Question 1: Is this statement actually true?

Question 2: Should I trust this person?

These are not the same question. This paper explains why keeping them separate matters.

What Is Truth?

A statement is true when it matches the way things actually are.

"Water is made of hydrogen and oxygen" is true because water really is made of hydrogen and oxygen. If water were made of something else, the statement would be false.

"The Earth is flat" is false because the Earth is not flat. It doesn't matter how many people believe it or who says it—the shape of the Earth is what it is.

This idea—that truth means matching reality—is called the "correspondence theory of truth." It's the common-sense view most people already have. When we ask "Is that true?" we're asking "Is that how things really are?"

The Speaker Doesn't Change the Facts

Consider this statement: "Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius at sea level."

Is this statement true? Yes—because that's how water actually behaves.

Now, does it matter who says it?

• If a chemistry professor says it, it's true.

• If a plumber says it, it's true.

• If a five-year-old says it, it's true.

• If a parrot repeats it, it's still true.

The statement doesn't become "more true" when a professor says it or "less true" when a child says it. Water doesn't care who's talking about it. Reality is what it is.

The same works in reverse. If a Nobel Prize winner says "The Earth is 6,000 years old," that statement is false—because the Earth is actually about 4.5 billion years old. The Nobel Prize doesn't change geology.

So Why Do Experts Matter?

If the speaker doesn't affect truth, why should we pay attention to experts at all?

Here's why: experts are more likely to be right.

A cardiologist has spent years studying hearts. She has access to research, experience with patients, and training in how to interpret evidence. When she says something about heart disease, she's probably right—not because her words magically become true, but because she's more likely to know the facts.

Think of it this way:

Truth is about what's actually real.

Expertise is about who's likely to know what's real.

Experts don't create truth. They help us find truth. There's a big difference.

The Two Questions We Often Confuse

Here are the two questions again:

Question 1: Is this statement true?

This is answered by reality. Does the statement match the facts? You find out by looking at evidence—observations, experiments, measurements, logical reasoning.

Question 2: Should I believe this person?

This is answered by looking at the source. Is the person reliable? Do they have relevant knowledge? Do they have biases or conflicts of interest?

Both questions matter. But they're different questions with different answers.

The problem comes when we treat Question 2 as if it answered Question 1. When we think: "This person has credentials, therefore what they say must be true."

That's a mistake. Credentials tell you the person is probably right. They don't guarantee the person is right. And they certainly don't make the person right.

When Experts Have Been Wrong

History gives us many examples of respected authorities who turned out to be wrong.

Lord Kelvin and the Age of the Earth

In the 1800s, Lord Kelvin was one of the most respected physicists in the world. He calculated that the Earth could be no more than about 20-100 million years old based on how long it would take to cool from a molten state.

He was wrong. The Earth is about 4.5 billion years old. Kelvin didn't know about radioactive decay, which produces heat inside the Earth. Once that was discovered, his calculation was proven incorrect.

Kelvin wasn't stupid or dishonest. He did the best calculation he could with the knowledge available. But reality didn't care about his reputation. The Earth was 4.5 billion years old whether Kelvin agreed or not.

Semmelweis and Hand-Washing

In the 1840s, a doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis noticed that when doctors washed their hands before delivering babies, fewer mothers died of infection. He tried to convince other doctors to wash their hands.

The medical establishment rejected him. They didn't believe that doctors could be causing infections. Semmelweis was mocked and eventually committed to an asylum, where he died.

He was right. The authorities were wrong. The truth about germs and infection didn't depend on whether the medical establishment accepted it.

The Lesson

These examples don't mean experts are useless. Experts are right far more often than non-experts. We should pay attention to them.

But the examples show that even experts can be wrong, and when they are, reality wins. Truth is not decided by vote, by credentials, or by authority. Truth is decided by how things actually are.

The Mistake of "Appeal to Authority"

There's a classic logical error called the "appeal to authority." It works like this:

1. Person X is an important authority.

2. Person X says that P is true.

3. Therefore, P must be true.

This reasoning is flawed. The conclusion doesn't follow from the premises. Authority makes something more likely to be true, not certainly true.

To be clear: it's perfectly reasonable to think "Dr. Smith is a cardiologist, so her advice about heart health is probably good." That's smart thinking.

The mistake is thinking "Dr. Smith is a cardiologist, so whatever she says about anything must be true and cannot be questioned." That's the fallacy.

Another version of the mistake: using authority from one area in a completely different area. A Nobel Prize in physics doesn't make someone an expert on economics. A famous actor isn't an authority on medicine. Expertise is specific.

What This Means in Practice

Don't Ignore Experts

Experts have knowledge that most of us don't have. When a doctor, scientist, engineer, or other professional speaks about their field, they're much more likely to be right than a random person. Pay attention to experts. That's rational.

Don't Worship Experts

Experts can be wrong. They can have biases. They can have conflicts of interest. They can speak outside their area of expertise. Treating any human being as infallible is a mistake.

Understand What Authority Actually Gives You

Authority is a reason to pay attention, not a reason to stop thinking. When an expert speaks, that's valuable information. But the final judge of truth is reality itself—evidence, observation, logic, and facts.

Keep the Two Questions Separate

Ask yourself: "Is this claim true?" (Look at the evidence.)

Also ask: "Is this source reliable?" (Consider their expertise and possible biases.)

Use both questions. But don't confuse them.

Why This Matters for Society

When a society treats authority as if it creates truth, problems follow.

If we believe that experts can't be wrong, we can't correct errors. If questioning authority is seen as disrespectful or inappropriate, mistakes get locked in. Science stops progressing. Bad ideas persist. Institutions become rigid and unable to adapt to new evidence.

A healthy society respects expertise while remaining open to the possibility that experts might be wrong. It values credentials as indicators of likely knowledge while remembering that truth comes from reality, not from titles.

Science works precisely because it doesn't treat anyone as infallible. Every claim is subject to testing. Every theory can be challenged by evidence. This is what makes science self-correcting—and it's what makes it successful.

Summary

Here's the whole argument in brief:

1. Truth means matching reality. A statement is true if it accurately describes how things are.

2. Reality doesn't change based on who's talking about it. The speaker's credentials, status, or authority have no effect on facts.

3. Experts are valuable because they're more likely to know the truth, not because they create truth.

4. We should respect expertise while remembering that experts can be wrong and that evidence is the final judge.

5. Confusing "this person is trustworthy" with "this statement is true" leads to errors and prevents correction.

Whether spoken by a Nobel laureate or by a curious child, a true statement is true because it matches reality—and a false statement is false for the same reason.

The identity of the speaker doesn't make things true or false. Reality does.