The criterion of truth is that it works even if nobody is prepared to acknowledge it.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Truth is determined by practical effectiveness regardless of human acknowledgment.
- In plain terms
- Something is true if it works, even if people deny it.
- What can you take from it?
- Practical success validates truth independent of belief.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What if something works but harms?
- Is truth only utility?
Another view
Effectiveness alone may not define all forms of truth.
More from Ludwig von Mises
The class of those who have the ability to think their own thoughts is separated by an unbridgeable gulf from the class of those who cannot.
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