To investigate the notion of truth, we shall start with lies.
Human beings are the only animals that lie, that can and do “bear false witness.” At first glance, one might say that other animals, even plants, who use deception to fool predators or their prey, are liars, as well. However, camouflage is a technique for confusing the senses of a predator — becoming “invisible”, looking like another animal, even emitting an odor. Such deception belongs to the immediate world created for our brains by our senses, information which the brain then interprets. We shall return to this “immediate” reality further along. I raise it here to contrast with the uniquely human world created by meaning, the symbolic world of spoken and written language and the arts shared only by humans.
Our ability to lie rests in this “mediated” realm. We can and do deliberately manipulate another’s perception of reality by changing the conditions for its interpretation, by twisting symbolic communication with others in one way or another. “Who took the money from my purse?” asks Mother. “Not me,” say little Jane, the thief, “Bobby took it.” This will sound familiar to everyone, everywhere. For lying is pervasive, both in families and in corporations, in faith communities and schools, in every facet of human activity, in fact.
