Author: Curt Doolittle

http://www.propertarianism.com/2015/05/29/definitions-truth/HONESTY, TRUTHFULNESS AND TRUTH

(h/t Francesco Principi)

Honesty does depend on the individual’s abilties, yes.

– Truthfulness is a skill because man evolved to lie and negotiate, not to tell the truth – truth telling is expensive.

– The ‘truth’ refers to a description that is ultimately parsimonious without being tautological (a name). And we can never know we speak the truth.

We can know we speak truthfully, and we can know we speak honestly. But others cannot know you speak honestly (without questioning:falsifying), only that you speak truthfully: that your testimony is constructed to be free of error, imagination, bias and deceit. None of us can know we speak the truth, even if we speak it, because there is always more information available in the future.

We use the word “True” very frequently, just like the word “is” but almost none of us can state in operational terms (existentially possible terms) what those two words mean. We use them as uncomprehended norms, not as truthful (warrantied) terms.

So as much as everyone would like to confuse honesty with truth, and due diligence as truth, honesty, diligent testimony, and the truth are three very different things.

Just as deduction, induction and abduction are very different things.

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FROM http://www.propertarianism.com/2015/05/29/definitions-truth/

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[D]EFINITIONS OF TRUTH.

[T]RUTH: That testimony (description) you would give, if your knowledge (information) was complete, your language was sufficient, stated without error, cleansed of bias, and absent deceit, within the scope of precision limited to the context of the question you wish to answer; and the promise that another possess of the same knowledge (information), performing the same due diligence, would provide the same testimony.

[T]RUTHFULNESS: that testimony (description) you give if your knowledge (information) is incomplete, your language is insufficient, you have performed due diligence in the elimination of error and bias, and warranty free of deceit; within the scope of precision limited to the question you wish to answer; and which you warranty to be so; and the promise that another possess of the same knowledge (information), performing the same due diligence, would provide the same testimony.

[H]ONESTY: that testimony (description) you give with full knowledge that knowledge is incomplete, your language is insufficient, but you have not performed due diligence in the elimination of error and bias, but which you warranty is free of deceit; within the scope of precision limited to the question you wish to answer; and the promise that another possess of the same knowledge (information), performing the same due diligence, would provide the same testimony.

[I]ntuition: (sentimental expression) – an uncritical, uncriticized, response to information that expresses a measure of existing biases (priors).

[P]reference (rational expression) : a justification of one’s biases (wants).

[O]pinion: (justificationism) – a justified uncritical statement given the limits of one’s knowledge about external questions.

[P]osition: (criticism) – a theoretical statement that survives one’s available criticisms about external questions.

[D]emonstrated Preference: – Evidence of intuition, preference, opinion, and position as demonstrated by your actions, independent of your statements.