Falsity

See also: False (logic)

Falsity (from Latin falsitas) or falsehood is a perversion of truth originating in the deceitfulness of one party, and culminating in the damage of another party. Falsity is also a measure of the quality or extent of the falseness of something, while a falsehood may also mean simply an incorrect (false) statement, independent of any intention to deceive.

In the Frege-Church ontology, "truth" is the denotation of a true proposition, while "falsity" is the denotation of false propositions.

In æsthetics, falsity is ugly, and truth is beautiful.

In existentialism, falsity is usually a thing to be avoided, and is not desired.

Examples

Today, based upon inaccuracies and falsities, it is known the entire De Fonte article to have been a fabrication, however, it set 18th century afire with speculation that a Northwest Passage must indeed exist.

• Counterfeiting money, or attempting to coin genuine legal tender without due authorization;
• Tampering with wills, codicils, or such-like legal instruments;
• Prying into the correspondence of others to their prejudice;
• Using false weights and measures,
• Adulterating merchandise, so as to render saleable what purchasers would otherwise never buy, or so as to derive larger profits from goods otherwise marketable only at lower figures;
• Bribing judges,
• Suborning witnesses;
• Advancing false testimony;
• Manufacturing spurious seals;
• Forging signatures;
• Padding accounts;
• Interpolating the texts of legal enactments; and
• Sharing in the pretended birth of supposititious offspring

are among the chief forms which this crime assumes.

See also

• Deception
• Fraud
• Lie

External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia "Falsity"

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)