Truth and Truthfulness: An Essay in Genealogy

343 Pages·2002·1.723 MB·English

by  Bernard Williams

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Copyright©2002byPrincetonUniversityPress
PublishedbyPrincetonUniversityPress,41WilliamStreet,
Princeton,NewJersey08540
IntheUnitedKingdom:PrincetonUniversityPress,
3MarketPlace,Woodstock,OxfordshireOX201SY
AllRightsReserved
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Williams,BernardArthurOwen.
Truthandtruthfulness:anessayingenealogy/BernardWilliams.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-691-10276-7(cloth:alk.paper)
1.Truth.2.Truthfulnessandfalsehood.I.Title.
BD171.W5282002
121—dc21 2002023663
BritishLibraryCataloging-in-PublicationDataisavailable
ThisbookhasbeencomposedinJansonTypeface
Printedonacid-freepaper.∞
www.pupress.princeton.edu
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
A FOR A
REBECCA, JACOB, JONATHAN,
AND SAM
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Ihavealwayshadahighregardforthosewhodefendgrammarorlogic.
Onerealizesfiftyyearslaterthattheyhavewardedoffgreatdangers.
—PROUST(M.deCharlus)
A A A A A A A A A A A A
Lackofanhistoricalsenseisthehereditarydefectofphilosophers
...Sowhatisneededfromnowonishistoricalphilosophizing,
andwithitthevirtueofmodesty.
—NIETZSCHE
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Contents
1 The Problem
1. Truthfulness and Truth 1
2. Authority 7
3. Nietzsche 12
2 Genealogy
1. Real and Fictional 20
2. Naturalism 22
3. The State of Nature Is Not the Pleistocene 27
4. How Can Fictions Help? 31
5. Shameful Origins 35
6. The Genealogy of Truthfulness 38
3 The State of Nature: A Rough Guide
1. The Division of Labour 41
2. Plain Truths 45
3. Space, Time, and Indeterminacy 53
4. Value: The Story So Far 57
4 Truth, Assertion, and Belief
1. Truth Itself 63
2. Assertions and Truth 66
3. Assertions and Knowledge 76
4. Beliefs and Truth 79
5 Sincerity: Lying and Other Styles of Deceit
1. Value: An Internal Connection? 84
2. Trust 88
3. Trustworthiness in Speech 93
4. Dispositions of Sincerity 96