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Single Idea 22664

[filed under theme 3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 3. Value of Truth ]

Full Idea

I find that I do not mind at all the thought that I have some false beliefs (of US state capitals), and there are many truths I do not care to know at all (total grains of sand on the beach).

Gist of Idea

I do not care if my trivial beliefs are false, and I have no interest in many truths

Source

Robert Nozick (The Nature of Rationality [1993], p.67)

Book Ref

Nozick,Robert: 'The Nature of Rationality' [Princeton 1995], p.67

A Reaction

A useful corrective to anyone who blindly asserts that truth is the supreme human value. I would still be annoyed if someone taught me lies about these two types of truth.

The 36 ideas with the same theme [why anyone might desire truth]:

251 Truth has the supreme value, for both gods and men [Plato]
21356 Piety requires us to honour truth above our friends [Aristotle]
20849 Falsehoods corrupt a mind, producing passions and instability [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius]
1852 For the mind Good is one truth among many, and Truth is one good among many [Aquinas]
6258 Virtue is the distinctive mark of truth, and its greatest product [Montaigne]
8018 Spinoza's life shows that love of truth which he proclaims as the highest value [MacIntyre on Spinoza]
12549 Nothing is so beautiful to the eye as truth is to the mind [Locke]
19574 If man sacrifices truth he sacrifices himself, by acting against his own convictions [Novalis]
21795 What I hold true must also be part of my feelings and character [Hegel]
19443 Truth forges an impersonal unity between people [Feuerbach]
15999 Pure truth is for infinite beings only; I prefer endless striving for truth [Kierkegaard]
23520 Truth has had to be fought for, and normal life must be sacrificed to achieve it [Nietzsche]
2914 One must never ask whether truth is useful [Nietzsche]
11090 Why do we want truth, rather than falsehood or ignorance? The value of truth is a problem [Nietzsche]
20380 Why should truth be omnipotent? It is enough that it is very powerful [Nietzsche]
24092 I tell the truth, even if it is repulsive [Nietzsche]
24114 The pain in truth is when it destroys a belief [Nietzsche]
23199 What is the search for truth if it isn't moral? [Nietzsche]
23202 Like all philosophers, I love truth [Nietzsche]
24082 Is the will to truth the desire to avoid deception? [Nietzsche]
23715 Psychologists should be brave and proud, and prefer truth to desires, even when it is ugly [Nietzsche]
14853 Truth finds fewest champions not when it is dangerous, but when it is boring [Nietzsche]
20357 Truth was given value by morality, but eventually turned against its own source [Nietzsche]
23825 We seek truth only because it is good [Weil]
23755 Genius and love of truth are always accompanied by great humility [Weil]
23877 Most people won't question an idea's truth if they depend on it [Weil]
23853 Truth is not a object we love - it is the radiant manifestation of reality [Weil]
22462 We should speak the truth, but also preserve and pursue it [Foot]
19151 Antirealism about truth prevents its use as an intersubjective standard [Davidson]
23291 Without truth, both language and thought are impossible [Davidson]
23284 Plato's Forms confused truth with the most eminent truths, so only Truth itself is completely true [Davidson]
23286 Truth can't be a goal, because we can neither recognise it nor confim it [Davidson]
22664 I do not care if my trivial beliefs are false, and I have no interest in many truths [Nozick]
21032 Speak truth only to those who deserve the truth [Sandel]
21033 Careful evasions of truth at least show respect for it [Sandel]
14992 We don't care about plain truth, but truth in joint-carving terms [Sider]