The Norman Levan Center hosted the second Gadfly Café of the semester to discuss the concept of truth on March 14.

Professor Reggie Williams, the director of the Gadflies, started off the event by thanking various people such as Norman Levan, the director Jack Hernandez, and the attendees.

“We take the concept of truth with respect to religion,” and “the past is something that happened, history is our account of it,” said Williams

Joshua Alderson, an attendee, said “truth is subjected to where it comes from.” He shared a theoretically example of Hitler winning the Second World War. “If Nazi Germany won, we would say that Hitler is the greatest person ever, instead we say that he is the worst person ever.”

One listener said, “logic and science provide the framework for evidence.” With that sentence the realm of science was explored. In science the word “law” means that it is universal such as the Law of Gravity; gravity affects everyone which means that it can be considered a universal truth. Shane Dozier said, however, that, “the law of gravity doesn’t work on the microscopic scale.” Even with a law such as gravity affecting everyone there is still an exception.

Cedric Crawford, a participant, said, “we use the terms truth and belief interchangeably when they don’t mean the same thing.” He later added that the terms “wrong and unacceptable,” are also interchangeably used.

That sentence encapsulated what the Gadfly was about; what is truth and beliefs? What may be true for one person, may not be true for another. If it is not true for both parties, is it a belief?

As Gadflies normally go, Williams picked people on a first come, first serve. As the conversation grew long, the populace of the room trickled down.

Williams said, “I really try to think of issues that BC students would be interested in.” He listed a few criteria such as concern, timeliness, socially significant, and bigger picture questions in the news.