Foreword
The discussion that follows deals with the truth as it relates to you and individuals in general. When I say "truth", I mean as best known to an individual.
The problem is how to have a definition of the truth without circular reasoning? How not to end up saying, “The definition of the truth is true because it fits the definition of truth."?
Truth can be discussed endlessly but it is certainly true that there is no agreed to definition of truth. Difficult problems usually give way to a different approach.
Einstein was led to his discoveries by a question he asked in his early teens, "What would happen if I could travel on a beam of light?" That simple seeming question ultimately led to e=mc2.
A simple beginning is needed.
Some Common Ideas and Terms
There are common terms, phrases, sayings that point to intuitive ideas about truth.
''Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive''
Sir Walter Scott, Marmion, Canto VI, Stanza 17
The implication is that lying is a complex process and difficult manage or keep track of.
"Always tell the truth. then you don't have to remember anything.”
Mark Twain, Roughin' it
What is a lie?
The right question is not, "What is Truth?" it's "What is a lie?"
A Thought Experiment - How are question answered?
The First Question
Assume for the moment that a question is being asked. Assume further that the questioner is someone of a reasonable mind who is simply seeking a truthful answer. When answering a question, most people's process to create an answer is pretty much the same. The usual approach is to roll the question over in your mind, gather what information you have, formulate the answer, and then reply. This is not an attempt to describe how the mind works. You may have some other set of processes for answering a question, but in general, people do something similar to what is described.
This process however, assumes that the person involved intends to and is, answering truthfully. What then of the liar, the person who does not intend to answer truthfully?
Whatever the process involved, the liar goes through extra steps. The liar goes through the extra step of deciding whether or not to tell the truth! Even when telling the truth, the liar requires more effort than the truthful person.
The truthful person will not always know or tell the truth but will always be truthful with no intent to deceive. An honest person may be in error but will still be honest.
Suppose that the liar decides to lie. While many people think of a lie as the contradiction of the truth, most lies are more complex than that. If you were to ask the time, and someone replied that it was midnight and the sun was high in the sky, no one would believe the answer1.
A lie at minimum needs to be believable but must point away from the truth. The liar therefore, must at a minimum, create a pointer away from the truth that is believable. The liar may also have an objective in mind and may want the lie to point to that objective in which case, the lie may involve considerable effort and quick thinking.
The first Rule
The experiment has yielded its first rule, "Lying requires more effort than telling the truth."
The Second and Following Questions
Suppose then that the questioner does not feel satisfied with the answer and pursues the point with another question. The truthful person will go through a process to the one described above with the additional steps of trying to integrate the additional question and perhaps musing further to be able to create a satisfactory answer.
The liar who decided to answer the first question truthfully may find the water getting hot. If the subject is one that the liar does not wish to disclose, any lie produced at this point will have to agree with the first truth and point away from the second truth. If the liar began with a lie, then the second lie has to agree with the first lie and point away from both truths.
As further questions are asked, the liar must create believable lies that point away from each truth, agree with each previous lie, and be believable. The effort involved goes up quickly.
The Second Rule
The second rule has emerged, "The effort to lie increase geometrically". The more you lie, the more you have to lie!
The Final Question
At some point in the process, the end will be reached. With the honest person, it will end when the question is answered truthfully or when there is an admission that the person doesn't have the answer, at least not the complete one.
With the liar, usually one of two thing will happen. The first is that a point will be reached when the effort to create another lie will either take so long as to be obvious that something is wrong or a contradiction will be revealed. The liar is either stumped or has holes (contradictions) in the replies.
At the point when the questioner realizes that the liar has been lying, all of the pointers away from the truth become negative pointers to the truth! The true answer will become obvious.
The Third Rule
The final rule emerges in the cliché; "The truth will out!" Over time, the truth is always known.
Defining a lie.
A lie then is the longer form. It is a longer path to an answer. This definition implies that a series of answers can be factual and still be a lie. In everyday life, if you are factual but with the intention to deceive, then you are a liar.
Given that any logical system can also be represented as a topology (curved surface). A definition of truth is that on any topology, truth is the geodesic path between any two points.
One can't definitively call anything "the truth" but one can clearly point out a lie (longer path). It is very much like the philosophy of science description of a "falsifiable premise".
So What? Who cares?
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