As Williams contends, an exploration of the problem of truth in the public domain is “related to larger structures of thought which are essential to our personal, social, and political self-understanding.” Untruthful practices in political life are not offenses against empirical reality but against political ideals such as equality, reciprocity, and the dignity of citizens. Truthfulness as a value is related functionally to a system with its characteristic ends, which in politics include sustaining a political community and ensuring that members of the community are treated with respect. And in his book, Truth and Truthfulness, Williams argued (among other things, in a rich and subtle work) that the dispositions of truthfulness cultivated by citizens of a liberal political community are deeply connected to other political values such as liberty, equality, and justice. This essay, a contribution to a symposium at Duquesne Law School entitled Resurrecting Truth in American Law and Public Discourse, was inspired by an observation made by Bernard Williams, in his paper “Saint-Just’s Illusion.” Williams noted that the issue of moral objectivity always come back to what to do with disagreement in matters of morality, and what sorts of considerations might lead the other party out of error.
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