NaturalLibertyRequiresAdherenceto Truth 321Likewise,considerthe following.I will ask heads-or-tailsquestionsto a dimeand then
flip it to get the answer.I say,“WasThomasJeffersonthe thirdpresidentof the United
States?Headsmeansyes and tailsmeansno.” The dimelandson heads.Doesthis mean
the cointoldme the truthin this case?Doesit meanthat if I flippedthe coinin one million
instances,the coinwouldtell me the rightanswerin abouthalfof thoseinstances?It
woulddivulgethe rightanswernoneof the time,becauseit nevergavean answer;
flippinga coinis not a reliablemeansof obtainingthe truthon mattersthatare not coin-
related.^10 Hereis the principle.
The intellectualcontentsof a conclusionare comprisedof morethanjust the wordsthat
expressthatconclusion.Yourconclusion’s intellectualcontentsare the consequenceof
the epistemologicalmethodwherebyyouformedthatconclusion.Therefore,a person’s
conclusionconsistsnot merelyof the wordsexpressingthe conclusion,but alsothe intel-
lectualbasisthat the personacquiredin arrivingat that conclusion.Thisprincipleapplies
regardlessof whetherone holdsthe conclusiontentativelyor intransigently.The Objectivisttheoryof concepts,discussedin BookOne,helpedus derivethatprinci-
ple. Supposetwo teachersapproacha littlegirl.Bothteacherstell the child,“A caterpillar
willspina chrysalisandlateremergefromthatstructureas a wingedcreaturecalleda
butterfly.” Nonetheless,it wasverydissimilarlinesof thoughtthat led thesetwo teachers
to holdingthis sentenceas true.Teacher 1 findssensoryevidenceirrelevant.Teacher 1
tellsthe girl,
I havea goodreasonwhyyou shouldbelievethatthis caterpillarwill turnintoa butter-
fly. I haveneverseenthis happen,andI don’t believeanyonewhoclaimsto haveseen
this happen.But I knowit is factualbecausethe children’s bookButterfliessaysso. This
bookis the sourceof all truth,andthereforeits factualitystandsin the absenceof any
corroboratingdatathatyouobtainindependentlyof readingthe book.Shouldany data
outsidethe bookproveinconsistentwiththe book,thenwe knowyourinterpretationof
the datahas to be wrong.Wheneveryourinterpretationis at variancewiththe contentsof
the book,reviseyourinterpretationto conformalwaysto that of the book’s contents.Teacher 2 takesa contrastingapproach.Teacher 2 saysto the littlegirl,“Let’s go outside
andcatcha caterpillar.” Thetwodo so, andtheyput the caterpillarin a terrarium.
Teacher 2 showsthe littlegirl a pictureof a butterflyfromthatButterfliesbook.Teacher 2
says,“Thisis a butterfly.” Overtime,theyobservethe caterpillarenclosingitselfin an
organicmass—a chrysalis.Thenon one beautifulday,theyobservethe butterflybreaking
freeof the structure.Teacher 2 saysto the girl,“Aha!A caterpillarwillspina chrysalis
and lateremergefromit as a wingedcreaturecalleda butterfly.”
Clearly,Teacher 1 is not a reliablesourceof information.Still,can we say that,by a
luckyguess,Teacher 1 wasrightin his conclusion?Canwe say that Teacher 1 is wrongin
mostconclusions,but was correctin the conclusionaboutthe butterfly?No.
Notethattwo differentwordscan havethe samespelling,but can actuallybe consid-
ereddifferentwordsinsofaras theyreferto unrelatedconcepts.On the one hand,one can
saymeasurewhenreferringto a quantitativemagnitudeof something.Alternatively,one
can saymeasurewhenreferringto an actionthatsomeonetakes,or someruleof conduct
the Stateimposes.Leavescan be a pluralnounthatrefersto flat greenobjectsfound
growingon a tree.Leavescan alsobe a verband referto the removalof someoneor some
objectfromsomelocation.We wouldnot concludethatthe firstleavesis the sameas the
secondmerelybasedon the spellingand pronunciation;the intellectualcontentsof every
conceptare widerthanthat.Thatsamelogicappliesto entiresentences.BothTeacher 1
and Teacher 2 can affirmto the littlegirl,in completeseriousness,“A caterpillarwill spin
a chrysalisandlateremergefromthe chrysalisas a wingedcreaturecalleda butterfly.”
Theirconceptsof whatthatsentencemeans,though,are discrepant.WhenTeacher 1