Other constructs are completely invisible and not amenable to measurement. Democracy; existentialism; capitalism; the mind; the emotions of love, guilt and ecstasy; education; degeneracy; and wonder. 

But what we can perhaps attempt to evaluate is whether these constructs are useful to humanity. All of the political, economic, ethical and religious systems are obviously useful to some subset of people. There are many people who are grateful that they live in a capitalist economy, because they believe it helps them to live a fulfilling life. Same for all of the other economic systems, as well as the political and others mentioned previously.

The thing about many constructs is that people will have vastly differing opinions about them. So while they make statements about such constructs, which are indeed true for themselves, other people may make the opposite statements, which are also true for them. Instead of trying to force these statements about constructs into true or false categories, we help ourselves think and, eventually, communicate more clearly by acknowledging that the great physicist Niels Bohr was correct to state:  “The opposite of a small truth is false, but the opposite of a great truth is another great truth.” 

Great truths refer to constructs, while small truths refer to concrete objects or qualities.

Let’s look at a couple of examples. We’ll move to something that the readers can verify. An omelet is made from eggs is a fact. It’s true. The load-bearing structures of most skyscrapers made in the 20th century are made of steel is a fact. It’s true. These would be classified by Niels Bohr as small truths, even though skyscrapers are big! 

More next time.