October 1, 2020

truth

From “Stiffening, in the Master Founders’ Wills” by Charles Olson:

… we pick

a private way
among debris
of common
wealths—Public
fact as sure

as dimensions stay
personal. …
And from “Lying in Politics” in crises of the republic by Hannah Arendt:
The deliberate falsehood deals with contingent facts; that is with matters that carry no inherent truth within themselves, no necessity to be as they are. Factual truths are never compellingly true. […]

Facts need testimony to be remembered and trustworthy witnesses to be established in order to find a secure dwelling place in the domain of human affairs. From this, it follows that no factual statement can ever be beyond doubt—as secure and shielded against attack as, for instance, the statement that two and two make four.

arendt olson quote


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