Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The title says what the book is about. The title of the book is Truth Matters, a dialogue on fruitful disagreement in an age of division. So Brother Cornell and I are both dedicated. It's our vocation to get at the truth of things, to try to get in touch with reality. At the same time, we recognize that we, like every other member of the human family, is fallible. We get things wrong.

The title says what the book is about. The title of the book is Truth Matters, a dialogue on fruitful disagreement in an age of division. So Brother Cornell and I are both dedicated. It's our vocation to get at the truth of things, to try to get in touch with reality. At the same time, we recognize that we, like every other member of the human family, is fallible. We get things wrong.

We never know the truth perfectly. We never know it fully. Nevertheless, it's our calling as professors, but it's also the calling of every member of the human family. to try to get at the truth of things, not to live in error, not to live with lies, not to live with falsehoods, but to try to get the truth of things. It's intrinsic to our flourishing as human beings.

We never know the truth perfectly. We never know it fully. Nevertheless, it's our calling as professors, but it's also the calling of every member of the human family. to try to get at the truth of things, not to live in error, not to live with lies, not to live with falsehoods, but to try to get the truth of things. It's intrinsic to our flourishing as human beings.

So in this so-called post-truth society, or this society in which people think there's my truth and your truth, but really no such thing as the truth, Cornell and I are putting forward the proposition that, in fact, there is a truth. It's hard to get to sometimes, can never know it perfectly, but there is a truth, and we should be about the business of knowing it, and knowing it really matters.

So in this so-called post-truth society, or this society in which people think there's my truth and your truth, but really no such thing as the truth, Cornell and I are putting forward the proposition that, in fact, there is a truth. It's hard to get to sometimes, can never know it perfectly, but there is a truth, and we should be about the business of knowing it, and knowing it really matters.

The first point I think that it's important to understand is we think you need to get beyond tribalism. You need to abandon tribalism. You need to think for yourself.

The first point I think that it's important to understand is we think you need to get beyond tribalism. You need to abandon tribalism. You need to think for yourself.

And anybody who thinks for himself, although he may, by virtue of his views, belong to a certain community of conviction, there will always be points on which he disagrees, where he's critical of his own tribe, his own ideological group, his own comrades in arms in political and cultural struggles.

And anybody who thinks for himself, although he may, by virtue of his views, belong to a certain community of conviction, there will always be points on which he disagrees, where he's critical of his own tribe, his own ideological group, his own comrades in arms in political and cultural struggles.

And you need the courage to be able to and willing to dissent when you think your team has gone wrong on this point or that point. Number two, you need to be open to the possibility that your side isn't always in the right. Your side can be wrong about things. You can be wrong about things. So you need intellectual humility and a self-critical attitude. That's all part and parcel of truth seeking.

And you need the courage to be able to and willing to dissent when you think your team has gone wrong on this point or that point. Number two, you need to be open to the possibility that your side isn't always in the right. Your side can be wrong about things. You can be wrong about things. So you need intellectual humility and a self-critical attitude. That's all part and parcel of truth seeking.

And then the third thing, and this is so very important today, is we need to get beyond the idea that if someone disagrees with me, they are waging an assault on me personally. In this identitarian age that we live in, people confuse their beliefs, their convictions with their very selves.

And then the third thing, and this is so very important today, is we need to get beyond the idea that if someone disagrees with me, they are waging an assault on me personally. In this identitarian age that we live in, people confuse their beliefs, their convictions with their very selves.

And so if you challenge someone's view on something, that person will perceive it as a personal insult, a personal attack, but that is toxic to truth seeking. And it just further deepens us in the mire of ideology. So we need to be willing to be challenged, open to be criticized.

And so if you challenge someone's view on something, that person will perceive it as a personal insult, a personal attack, but that is toxic to truth seeking. And it just further deepens us in the mire of ideology. So we need to be willing to be challenged, open to be criticized.

We need to be willing to engage others, yes, with the spirit of trying to teach what we think we know, but also with the spirit of trying to learn from our critics.

We need to be willing to engage others, yes, with the spirit of trying to teach what we think we know, but also with the spirit of trying to learn from our critics.

Well, the goal of a political campaign is to win, but my worry is that, and this last election is a very good example of it, people are willing to win at any cost, and truth can simply be thrown out the window. And so often in this past campaign it was, and you could both point to examples on both sides.

Well, the goal of a political campaign is to win, but my worry is that, and this last election is a very good example of it, people are willing to win at any cost, and truth can simply be thrown out the window. And so often in this past campaign it was, and you could both point to examples on both sides.