P001 • Epistemic Principles
Also known as: Tarski's Litany
There are moments when we already suspect what is true -- and feel ourselves pulling away from it. The Litany of Tarski is a quiet commitment you make before you look: if this is true, I want to believe it is true. If it is not true, I want to believe it is not true. It does not tell you what to find. It just asks you to be willing to find whatever is there.
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If X is true, I desire to believe X is true. If X is false, I desire to believe X is false.
We are remarkably good at protecting ourselves from information we do not want. That instinct makes sense -- it kept us safe when the world was more physically dangerous and less informationally complex. But in a world where acting on outdated beliefs has real costs, the habit of looking away stops being protective and starts being expensive. Without something like this litany, our default is to seek comfort over accuracy, and we rarely notice we are doing it. The practice does not make the truth easier. It just makes us a little more willing to meet it.
| When you are about to receive information that could change your plans, and you notice the urge to pre-decide what you will find |
| When you have been avoiding a question because the answer might be uncomfortable, and you want help turning toward it |
| When you are in a disagreement and realize you have stopped being curious about whether you might be wrong |
| When you sense that your beliefs about a situation and the situation itself may have quietly drifted apart |
| You catch yourself putting off looking at something -- results, feedback, evidence -- and the delay feels more like avoidance than scheduling |
| You notice a flicker of hope about a specific outcome before you have actually looked at the data |
| You find yourself constructing reasons why a certain answer would be fine, before you know what the answer is |
| You are about to open something and you feel your chest tighten -- that is the moment the litany is for |
| Someone offers you information and your first reaction is to question their motives rather than consider what they said |
| Saying the words mechanically without pausing to actually feel the commitment -- the litany only works if you mean it in that moment |
| Using it as a thought-terminating phrase rather than an opening for genuine reflection |
| Applying it to matters where emotional engagement is appropriate and healthy -- not every feeling needs to be overridden by epistemic discipline |
| Litany of Tarski |
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| If the box contains a diamond, I desire to believe that the box contains a diamond. If the box does not contain a diamond, I desire to believe that the box does not contain a diamond. Let me not become attached to beliefs I may not want. |
| Aligns belief-formation with truth-seeking rather than comfort-seeking. Forces explicit acknowledgment that we want accurate beliefs, not beliefs that feel good. Named after logician Alfred Tarski, adapted by the rationalist community. |
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