Truth

I. Materials A. Notecards B. Print pictures

II. Goals

We want students to be able to...

1. Talk about each other’s perspectives as opposed to talking at each other

2. Use counterexamples in efforts to expose limitations in personal knowledge

3. Consider how knowledge might be different from belief

4. Challenge understanding of objectivity of knowledge

Introduction A. Introduce ourselves

Notecard Activity (10-15 mins)

1. Give each student two notecards

2. 1st card

   1. Front face → write 1 thing they know to be true

   2. Back face → write 3 justifications for this claim

3. 2nd card

   1. Front face → write 1 thing they know is not true

   2. Back face → write 3 justifications for this claim

4. Discussion

   1. Knowledge vs. belief

   2. Limitations of sense perception

   3. Is it possible to know anything for certain?

   4. Descartes: Can only know for certain that you exist...what do they think? TWE is reality perceived experience? Does it matter what we perceive if we can still operate and co-exist with others, even if we all see different things?

   5. Politics related question: Everyday in the news you hear stories about claims related to public officials...how do you know if what they’re saying is true? Does it matter? How could we operate differently?

Audio & Optical Illusions (10 - 15 min) A. Start with a straightforward picture, students say something about it 1. How do you know? (they observe it with their senses) B. Show various optical illusions (and the Yanny / Laurel auditory illusion), get at the idea that your senses might deceive you

D. So how do we know what we know?

1. Can we ever trust our senses?

2. Re-apply Descartes -- Can we know anything?

3. Return to notecards A. Do you still believe in your original claim?

End (5 min) A. Discuss/ask what they learned/what they like doing