A half-truth is a deceptive statement that includes some
element of truth. The statement might be partly true, the statement may be
totally true but only part of the whole truth, or it may utilize some deceptive
element, such as improper punctuation, or double meaning, especially if the
intent is to deceive, evade, blame or misrepresent the truth.
The purpose and or consequence of a half-truth is to make
something that is really only a belief appear to be knowledge, or a truthful
statement to represent the whole truth, or possibly lead to a false conclusion.
According to the justified true belief theory of knowledge, in order to know
that a given proposition is true, one must not only believe in the relevant
true proposition, but one must also have a good reason for doing so.
A half- truth deceives the recipient by presenting something
believable and using those aspects of the statement that can be shown to be
true as good reason to believe the statement is true in its entirety, or that
the statement represents the whole truth. A person deceived by a half-truth
considers the proposition to be knowledge and acts accordingly.
