Seek and Speak Truth
By Anthony Casperson
3-21-26

This past week, I interacted with an essay that surprised me. In part, that moment of pause was because of the fact that these words of descriptive warning were first published about 85 years ago. However, most of the surprise arose from the fact that the words predicted how discourse and debate tend to happen in much of the western world today.

I guess we didn’t listen to the warning.

This essay by C. S. Lewis—first published in a magazine, and can now be found a collection of his works called God in the Dock—is about a method of argument that he terms as “Bulverism.” He jokingly posits that the thought is from a philosopher named Ezekiel Bulver, hence the coined term.

Essentially, Bulverism argues that, rather than actually refuting the claim of a person with whom we disagree, all we must do is assume that our opponent is wrong and then blame their position on some aspect of their psychological, physiological, or sociological background.

Instead of bringing up proofs that deny their positions, all we must do to “win” the argument is say, “Well, you just think that because you’re a…” and fill in that blank with whatever category of person that we can most easily vilify or denigrate, given the audience in front of us.

Lewis puts forth the scene of Bulverism’s birth when a young Ezekiel Bulver saw his father claim that the sum of the square of two sides of a triangle is greater than the square of the third side. However, in response to Ezekiel’s father, his mother argues against that claim by saying, “You’re just saying that because you’re a man.”

Rather than argue a basic principle of geometry, that a²+b²=c², Mrs. Bulver forces her husband to speak about how his masculinity is not a factor in the discussion at hand. The denial of the wife’s claim, thus takes center stage rather than the refutation of the original argument. And that’s even if the original claim does have a lack of truthfulness to it, like the fictional Mr. Bulver’s geometric travesty.

When I saw Lewis give voice to this method of debate, I looked up and wondered how he got his hands on a time machine to view our present reality.

And if you don’t believe me that much of western culture has debates and arguments like this, imagine how many people might just read my words here and say, “Of course, the cis-gendered, straight, white Christian man agrees with the cis-genered, straight, white Christian man.”

I’m not even taking political sides on this, either. Bulverism is rampant on both sides of nearly every political, sociological, economic, and religious debate. And often, the unwitting Bulverist distracts with their topical sleight of hand by choosing whatever piece of their opponent’s background is the easiest to pick off.

The person’s appearance. Their accidental moment of misspeaking. Their lack of being a part of some specific people group. It doesn’t matter what the part of the opponent’s background is, just lay that claim down and use it as “proof” as why they would think that way.

Who needs to worry about facts that support or deny the original claim?

This is the reason why no news media outlet can go one day without using the words “Fascist,” “Communist,” “Hitler,” “woke,” or so many other buzzwords. They’re not interested in seeking the truth, because if they were, they’d argue the actual provable facts rather than foment division.

Sure, aspects of a person’s background can blind them to various facets of the truth, but that should not be our starting place in debate, argument, and disagreement. Rather we should focus on the facts proving that a person is incorrect in their argument.

We must show that a person is wrong before we try to explain why they are wrong.

Psychology, physiology, and sociology have a place for discussion, but it is not before the reaching for truth. And thus it is truth for which we must reach.

This is all the more true for those of us who claim to follow Jesus—the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

When we just automatically assume that our debating opponent is wrong, then we tend to stand so assured in our own perspective that we become unteachable. We refuse to listen at all, because there’s “obviously” no value in other perspectives than ours.

But, this stance leads to what the bible refers to as a fool.

In Proverbs 28:26, Solomon writes that the one who trusts in their own mind—the one who “follows their heart”—is a fool. Whoever just assumes their position is correct merely because it is theirs, proves themselves to be utterly reliant on the wrong thing.

Rather, we should be like the wise of that same verse who walks in wisdom and finds deliverance. Those who follow the true path of God rather than whatever distracting path we may happen to find. Truth and facts, not distraction and name-calling.

Following the wisdom and truth of God should be our focus in every aspect of life, especially when it comes to our understanding of the world around us.

This is why Proverbs 12:15 tells us that “the way of the fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.” In our effort to seek truth, we must listen for those areas where we’re wrong. And offer truth to our fellow human beings who have yet to learn the aspects of truth that we have been taught.

But this, therefore, means that we should do our best to speak of facts, rather than fall into the Bulveristic trap of logical legerdemain ourselves. We should speak of facts and truth rather than merely say, “Of course, you’d say that. You’re a…”

Two verses later, in Proverbs 12:17, Solomon says that, “whoever speaks truth gives honest evidence, but a false witness utters deceit.” When we live and breathe truth, then the righteousness of God forms our words. But if we speak words that deceive and misdirect, then we prove our treachery with every breath.

Those who take the Bulveristic stance and argue that a person only has their opinion because they’re a (fill-in-the-blank), do not seek the betterment of those they’re debating. Instead, they’re just trying to put up defenses so that they don’t have to change. And that is the very definition of what it means to be unteachable.

But this is not what a follower of Jesus should be. The whole point of sanctification—of becoming more and more like God—is to remain teachable with regard to his commands, and ways, and truth. If we refuse to change when faced with the truth, that proves us to be nothing but a fool, according the very word of God we claim to live by.

So, that means we followers of Jesus must never hide behind Bulverisms that distract from the truth. Never hide behind label-making sleight of hand to distract people from the argument at hand. Rather, we should seek proofs and truth as our main focus, whenever we come face to face with a disagreement or argument.

No matter how often such discussions are led by those who fall unwittingly into their own Bulverisms.

Let us seek God’s truth to show the argument that is wrong, rather than just assume the other side is wrong and claim to know why that is.

Get rid of buzzwords. Kick Bulver out of our theology. And maybe we can prove that we’ve finally listened to the warning that was seen coming 85 years ago.

from C.S. Lewis Doodle's YouTube video about Bulverism