{"id":8369,"date":"2013-11-12T12:27:36","date_gmt":"2013-11-12T12:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2013\/11\/12\/promise-or-lie\/"},"modified":"2013-11-12T12:27:36","modified_gmt":"2013-11-12T12:27:36","slug":"promise-or-lie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2013\/11\/12\/promise-or-lie\/","title":{"rendered":"Promise or Lie? Falsehood or Half-Truth?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some pundits and journalists keep referring to Obama's signature "If you like it, you can keep it, period" as a promise.*  This is an incoherent  use of 'promise.'<\/span><\/p>\n

Suppose  a loan originator hands you a mortgage contract and says, "I promise you that this loan is not callable." (A callable loan is one in which the lender reserves the right to demand payment in full, plus interest, at any time.)  If you are not stupid you will point out that this is not a question of the making and keeping of promises, but only one of the actual and explicit content of the contract.  You will demand to see where in the contract it is stated that the loan is not callable.  If the loan officer cannot locate the passage, or you find words to the effect that the loan is callable, then you know that the loan officer is lying about the content of the mortgage contract.  At this point you might say to the officer, ironically, "I see you broke your promise, or perhaps it was a false promise from the start."<\/span><\/p>\n

The point ought to be obvious and equally obvious its relevance to Obama's signature lie.  One cannot promise what a document will<\/em> contain given that there is an easily ascertainable fact as to what it does<\/em> contain.  Obamacare was a bill before it became law, but either way it has a definite content. It is not for Obama to promise what is in the ACA but to report truthfully as to what the definite content is.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coherent:  "I promise to sign the bill." "I promise to have a bill written that will provide that anyone who wants to keep his plan or doctor can do so."  <\/span><\/p>\n

Incoherent:  "I promise that I was once an adjunct professor of  law."  "I promise that the ACA provides that anyone who wants to keep his plan can do so, period."  "I promise that if you read the bill, you will see that it does so provide."<\/span><\/p>\n

If you insist that our  POMO POTUS made a promise with his signature avowal, will you say that he broke his promise or that he made an insincere promise from the start?  Either way you don't understand the concept of promising.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another mistake that some journalists make is to  describe the Obama lie as a half truth.  Not so.  A statement that is false cannot be half-true.  Compare<\/span><\/p>\n

1. All of you who like your plan can keep your plan, period.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Most of you who like your plan can keep your plan, period.<\/span><\/p>\n

(1) is false and (2) is true.  (1) is not rendered half-true or partially true due to the presence of the universal quantifier or the fact that (1) entails (2).<\/span><\/p>\n

 'All politcians lie' entails 'Some politicians lie.'  The latter is true; the former false, not half-true.  Note finally that 'wholly true' is pleonastic.<\/span><\/p>\n

_________________<\/span><\/p>\n

* For example<\/a>, "President Barack Obama\u2019s \u201cif you like it, you can keep it\u201d promise has House Democrats facing a dilemma as they look ahead to a vote on Republican legislation to preserve existing health plans."<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRelated articles<\/legend>\n
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\"\"<\/a>Obama as Bullshitter<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>For a Lie to be a Lie, Must There be an Intention to Deceive?<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>On Misusing the Word 'Lie'<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>Promises and Lies<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>A Callable Loan<\/a><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>The President's Non-Apology Obamacare Apology<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fieldset>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some pundits and journalists keep referring to Obama's signature "If you like it, you can keep it, period" as a promise.*  This is an incoherent  use of 'promise.' Suppose  a loan originator hands you a mortgage contract and says, "I promise you that this loan is not callable." (A callable loan is one in which … Continue reading “Promise or Lie? Falsehood or Half-Truth?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-truthfulness","category-virtues-and-vices"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}