Truth emerges only after doubt makes information improbable

Evidence

This is also how truth arises. Here too, with the framework of unproblematical assumptions and beliefs, a certain improbability of information must first arise before test criteria start to function, and before a special code can be formed to regulate the identification of truth and untruth. Truth is doubt overcome. It can be triggered by the simple disappointment of cognitive expectations, but also by a set of cognitive instruments with sharply increased capacity for resolving the issue. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 605

Categorization

• DEFINE: Luhmann’s definition of truth as ‘doubt overcome’ — a sparse aphoristic definition that parallels how he frames power.
• XREF: connects to: Truth depends on patient lingering with the particular rather than violent short cuts — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia: Reflections from…, 87; Epistemic assurance rests on doubt, not certainty — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 272; Real knowledge rests on active doubt rather than certainty — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 272