Is the human mind able to detect falsity?

[JohnB445]

For example, I sit through a biology class. The teacher makes a statement that cells contain a nucleus where DNA is located in the nucleus. The claim was made by an expert in the field, so I accepted the person's form of testimony as justification for my knowledge. In fact, this is how most people acquire knowledge. Or we would have to repeat the process the scientists did ourselves to see for our selves that indeed there is a nucleus inside cells, which simply isn't ideal if you were to do that for every given statement that is accepted as true.

But when reading a book, even non-fiction or acquiring information from a study or article. How is the human mind able to detect an error?

There seems to be an "Ah-Ha" moment that goes on in the brain when something makes sense or sounds logically valid. And a "That doesn't seem right" moment when something does not. But is this reliable?

 

[Ahermit]

...But when reading a book, even non-fiction or acquiring information from a study or article. How is the human mind able to detect an error?

There seems to be an "Ah-Ha" moment that goes on in the brain when something makes sense or sounds logically valid. And a "That doesn't seem right" moment when something does not. But is this reliable?

If you reference the human mind as being reliable, then anything the 'self' (mind's identity) is attracted to will be dishonest and unreliable, because the mind is imagination. The 'self' is only attracted to anything that will support what it is looking for, regardless if it is true or not. If it is true, then the self has already sought to claim the truth for its validity before finding what it was looking for. An example, is searching a bible verse to prove a point on a forum. The verse is true/honest/reliable, but the reason or logic for seeking it was untrue/dishonest/unreliable. If what the mind was looking for was untrue, it was looking for a something to supports its issue or agenda. In any case, this also proves to be dishonest and unreliable _ nothing to do with the truth.

If you reference truth as being reliable, ...then anything the inner being (soul) is attracted to will be the truth. The inner being comes from Truth and only knows the truth. This attraction 'touches' our heart with in-lovingness of the truth. We may not understand it, or have reasons of logical explanations, but whatever truth is revealed to us will be absolutely reliable due to truth's nature of being doubtless and obvious. To be aware of a truth instantly becomes a conviction.

Many books, even non-fiction, can point to a truth which the inner being becomes attracted to, and so too with the 'self'.
Truth (what IS) 'touches' our inner being, and is reliable.
Reason and logic (constructs of the mind) touches our 'self', and is unreliable.

 

[nonaeroterraqueous]

The reasoning mind is satisfied with any model which explains all known factors, which is to say that if it sounds complete, with all of the loose ends tied up, then it has a ring of truth to it. The emotions accept the model if it implies a conclusion that the person wants. Both work together. The perfect lie appeals to the wants of a corrupt and sinful nature, while cleverly constructing an explanation that covers everything, even if the reasoning is absurd. People are much less aware of the absurdness of the reasoning than they are of the fact that it covers everything and heads toward a desirable conclusion.

The defense is to examine whether the model promotes a desired conclusion for somebody, such as an ideology, cosmology, theology or the antithesis of such. In other words, if it touches wholly upon dry subjects then it is safer than if it touches upon things of moral import, such as the origin of life or the universe.

Also, as a defense one must ignore the elaborateness of the explanation and focus entirely upon its sensibleness. In that regard there is no substitute for an intelligent approach. Unfortunately, intelligence is equally adept at crafting a more convincing lie as it is at divining the truth.