“Truth is not a matter of majority.”Mihai Eminescu · Publicistică · 1880 · Timpul, 1880
Truth is an objective property, not a collective decision.
Eminescu attacks a common confusion: the idea that if many people believe something, that something is true. He argues that truth is objective and independent of public opinion. A lie does not become truth just because it is repeated by a majority. For example, in history, many societies believed the Earth was flat, but that did not make it flat.
Eminescu warns us that truth is not decided by vote, but by reason and evidence. When a majority believes something, it does not make it correct. For example, if all your colleagues say a fake news story is true, that does not turn it into reality. Group pressure can stifle independent thinking. Eminescu urges us to check facts, not blindly follow the crowd. The next step is to understand how this social pressure works.
Why it matters It protects us from social pressure and encourages critical thinking, especially in the age of misinformation.