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Epistemology of the Real

Truth, objectivity and the construction of meaning

Truth is never given but always constructed, shaped by our perceptions, our interests and the powers that define what can be said and thought. The objectivity of facts reveals itself as illusory as soon as we examine how power and media manufacture reality, transforming lexical choices - pandemic rather than epidemic - into worldviews. Expert discourses that claim to objectively describe the world are simulacra that lead to immobilism, denying the subjectivity that is nevertheless the condition of all transformative engagement. Faced with unique and reassuring explanations, presence opens to multiple explanations and founds critical thinking. The veridist religion of certain researchers, who believe they hold absolute truth while obscuring disturbing questions, reveals how knowledge can become dogma. Between simplism and nuance, between certainty and complexity, authentic thought embraces paradoxes and recognizes the partiality of every point of view. The feeling of reason, this external support that reassures us, can lead us to dehumanize the other in the name of our supposed rationality. Understanding that all truth is necessarily complex, partial and linked to our experience of the world does not lead to relativism but to an epistemology of presence where knowledge emerges from our conscious grounding in reality rather than from our illusory overview.

The Mythology of Truth
The Mythology of Truth

For an Ethnological Critique of the Journalistic Claim to Objectivity.

When journalists speak of truth, they often confuse their professional method with access to reality. This confusion, far from being anecdotal, reveals a fundamental anthropological mechanism that deserves to be explored. The Confusion Between (…)
18 January 2026
  7 min
Memory and creativity
Memory and creativity

The narrative fabric of our memories.

How does the creation of stories transform arbitrary sequences of numbers into lasting memories? An empirical exploration of the links between imagination and memory. Imagination as the architect of memoryIn my repeated attempts to memorize (…)
8 October 2025
  4 min
The Simulacrum of Presence
The Simulacrum of Presence

Towards an Epistemology of Personal Engagement.

I explain here why expert discourses that claim to objectively describe the world are simulacra, and why they can only lead to immobilism. I argue for an acknowledged recognition of our subjectivities, and I indicate how this is a path toward (…)
15 July 2025
  9 min
Presence and Explanation
Presence and Explanation

For a critical mind based on inner grounding rather than on the accumulation of information.

Faced with fears, we seek unique and reassuring explanations. Only “presence” opens us to multiple explanations and grounds critical thinking. The universal need for explanationAll human beings, in their infinite diversity, children, (…)
5 July 2025
  5 min
Truth and truthful religion
Truth and truthful religion

When scientific certainty becomes dogma.

Some researchers believe they hold absolute truth, while obscuring questions that disturb them. This dominating posture reveals a form of “veridist religion,” which denies the complexity of reality. The manufacture of consensus and the erasure of (…)
20 June 2025
  7 min
Presence and a sense of reason
Presence and a sense of reason

Getting away from dehumanizing good intentions.

Does being right make us more human? This need for certainty, this “external scaffolding” that I call the feeling of reason, obscures our anchored presence and can lead us to dehumanize the other. The quest for reason and its dead endsWho (…)
5 June 2025
  6 min
Presence and “objective facts”
Presence and “objective facts”

Collective beliefs and the construction of truths.

The objectivity of facts is often illusory: our perceptions, power, and interests influence their definition, making reality complex, subjective, and always partial. Media and Information EducationFor several years, there has been a strong (…)
19 May 2025
  7 min
Presence and nuance of thought
Presence and nuance of thought

Psychosociology of democracy.

Nuanced thinking, unlike dogmatic simplism, embraces the complexity of the world and acknowledges the subjectivity of viewpoints. It is the source of democracy. It requires safe spaces for dialogue where everyone’s presence is legitimized. Nuance (…)
27 April 2025
  4 min
Pandemic or epidemic?
Pandemic or epidemic?

On the politics of words.

The use of the word “pandemic” for Covid-19 illustrates how language shapes our perception. This lexical choice, adopted by everyone, contributes to a distorted view of the reality experienced. Beware of Assumed TruthsThe words we use as (…)
17 April 2025
  4 min
Presence and truth
Presence and truth

Investigation of a real critical mind.

In response to Roger-Pol Droit, who laments the loss of a common truth, I argue that truth is necessarily complex, partial, and linked to our experience of the world. A Truth in Crisis?The philosopher Roger-Pol Droit, in his book Alice au pays (…)
27 February 2025
  8 min