Transcript

Emily: “It all depends on what your definition of ‘is’ is.” 

This odd statement became one of the most memorable and scrutinized moments of a scandal involving U.S. President Bill Clinton. And it highlights some dynamics you might not have thought about that are present in your everyday relationships.

President Clinton made this statement during his grand jury testimony on August 17, 1998. The President was being questioned about whether or not he lied, under oath, in a previous deposition. This would be considered perjury and a serious crime.

This complexity and nuance of words, statements, facts, and testimony is common in legal contexts. But if you’re trying to figure out whether or not someone lied, and suddenly the definition of a common word like “is” is up for interpretation and debate, you might be tempted to think that you can’t know for sure what *anything* means anymore. 

But ask yourself this question: if this conversation occurred between you and your spouse, how would you feel about your spouse saying “it all depends on what your definition of ‘is”’ is”?

This example parallels some of the complicated dynamics of another word we often use in our daily lives: truth. 

What do we mean when we say something is true? And what do we mean when we tell someone that something is true? How we define truth, and what that means for our relationships, are two complicated paths to explore.

Maybe you don’t believe that any normal, sane person actually worries about what we mean when we tell someone that something is true. Don’t we all just know what it means to tell someone the truth?

A few years ago, two YouTube personalities, Jordan Peterson, a psychologist, and Sam Harris,a neuroscientist, tried to have a debate but instead talked for more than two hours without ever agreeing on what “truth” means. 

That’s perhaps not surprising since this debate has been going on for centuries and traces all the way back to ancient Greeks and their pursuit of truth. 

In philosophy, truth is often defined as correspondence with reality. For example, if I say “the sky is blue,” it’s true because that statement matches the reality we observe. But from the legal perspective, I might say, “The sky is blue based on evidence and testimony proving it beyond a reasonable doubt.” Or, based on scientific “truth” I might say, “The sky is blue due to Rayleigh scattering, which causes blue light to scatter more than other colors.” And a psychologist might proclaim this “truth” as: “The sky appeared blue because our brains interpret the scattered blue light, though perceptions may vary.”

This work of defining truth may seem so tedious, complicated, and unending that you might throw your hands up in frustration and say “Let’s just use a simple definition.” Something like what Aristotle said, all while using only single syllable words (at least in English): 

“To say of what is that it is not, and of what is not that it is, is false. While to say of what is that it is, and of what is not that it is not, is true.” …

Yet even with that definition, you could still one day be faced with a spouse who quips back, “Well, it all depends on what your definition of ‘is’ is”. 

Perjury is a serious crime. 

But lying under oath is more than just a crime. It shows a willingness to deceive even in the most serious settings, like court. Truth-telling is inherently important because it involves our commitment to others. Perjury—like lying to a loved one—is a betrayal of trust, saying “I’m telling the truth” while the reality is otherwise. And all lying damages trust.

Are your relationships with others built on truth? On trust? These questions may seem like tedious topics for philosophers, until someone you care about asks you… 

What is truth?