Navigating "Truthfulness" as a Standard for Ethical Speech: Revisiting Speech in Ancient India.

Truthfulness, it is said, was the "foremost standard" for speech in India. If truthfulness was the foremost standard, how would it be performed and maintained in situations where an interlocutor had to convey messages that triggered conflict? In this paper, the "truthfulness" standard is revisited, and commentaries from the Dharmasutras, the Manusmriti, and advice from the fourth century Indian philosopher, Vatsyayana, is used to contrast the truthfulness standard with other speech standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]