The Hindu Business Line : Lying comes naturally to human beings

ACCOUNTING is a profession that earns its bread from `truth'. Who else plugs `true and fair' in their finished product with as much finesse as we manage to? So, it may not be fair if others start talking about truth. But that's exactly what Michael P. Lynch, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut, does in his True to Life, from The MIT Press (http://mitpress.mit.edu). The book is about `why truth matters'.

The simple truth is that, for many, truth doesn't matter. It is nothing short of a foolish exercise about an irrelevant question. "Why be concerned over an abstract idea like truth when something that isn't true gets the desired result?" asks the blurb too. Is there any reason for this growing cynicism over truth? It is because of "our confusion over what truth is", says Lynch. And this needs to be sorted out, he says emphatically. "Otherwise, we will be unable to act with integrity, to live authentically, and to speak truth to power."

The author believes that even the deepest philosophical problems can be appreciated by anyone willing to roll up his or her intellectual sleeves and think hard. "Truth is one of those ideas — happiness is another — that we use all the time but are at a loss to define," he writes, before discussing four truisms about truth.

First, truth is objective. Just because we believe something, "it doesn't mean it's true." Lynch explains with the analogy of computer hard drive: "I don't know really how it gets its job done. But I know what that job is: it acts as the main information-storage facility for my computer... For most purposes, this working description of a hard drive is good enough." Similarly: "We know the job of true beliefs, even if we don't know exactly how they get that job done. True beliefs are those that portray the world as it is and not as we may hope, fear, or wish it to be."

Second truism is that truth is good. "More precisely, it is good to believe what is true." For this, we look for evidence. "We think that beliefs that are based on evidence are more likely to be true." Very much like in auditing, isn't it?

Third, truth is a worthy goal of inquiry. Oh, it sounds like a moral science class, you fret, but Lynch says, "The goodness of believing what is true means that having true beliefs, like repaid debts or kept promises, is a goal worthy of pursuit." While it is a worthy goal, we can't believe on demand; pursuit of truth is not direct, but indirect — "by paying attention to the evidence, giving and asking for reasons, doing adequate research, remaining open-minded, and so on."

Fourth and last, truth is worth caring about for its own sake. "Curiosity is not always motivated by practical concerns," as in the case of abstract mathematical puzzles. Just like auditors and inquiry commissions, "people often wish to know the truth about a spouse's infidelity even when there is an excellent chance that nothing productive will come of it." Ditto with people suffering from an untreatable disease, who wish to know when they'd die, even if they can do nothing to prevent it. Like dollar bills and legible handwriting, truth too is "instrumentally good", for what it can do to us.

As if to balance the many chapters on truth, Lynch devotes space for `sweet lies' too. "Lying, like breathing, comes naturally to human beings," he writes. "Lying is bad, but like many bad things, it can also be sexy." Lying is often defined as "Saying one thing while believing another", but Lynch thinks this is too inadequate. "To lie is to assert something you believe to be false with the intention of misleading or deceiving." Lies are by nature secrets, he elaborates.

However, there is the `publicity test' to determine `a justified lie' — that is, it passes muster when exposed to the examination of reasonable people. "Most lies, in either the public or private sphere, won't pass the publicity test." Lying is bad not only because of its consequences; "but because it shows a fundamental lack of respect for the victims of the lie."

Put simply, "one treats other humans with dignity when telling them the truth," and not getting in between them and the facts.

Perhaps, shareholders don't normally deserve any dignity, which is why annual reports often seem as glossy as pulp fiction but don't tell the members the whole truth. Shouldn't truth be allowed at least as footnotes?

BooksOfAccount@TheHindu.co.in

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