J. Stenger Recent trends in some academic circles have called into question conventional notions of truth and reality. In this view, one narrative is a good as another, since each is expressed in the language of its particular culture and thus contains all the assumptions about truth and reality that are embedded in that culture.
Texts have no intrinsic meaning.
Rather, their meanings are created by the reader. The conclusion is then drawn that no narrative can have universal validity. The students' natural science professors, with their heads buried as usual in their research, hardly take notice. When scientists happen to hear assertions that science is just another tall tale, they generally flippantly dismiss the notion as nonsense. As usual, this is an ineffective argument that convinces no one.