Mozi
Three Tests for a Claim
Before you believe a new claim, ask three things: where it came from, who saw it, what it did
Mozi, Fei Ming I (chapter 35)
Everyone says a thing works and you cannot test it yourself. What are the three tests Mozi set, and what does each ask?
What actually happened?
In Mozi's day some said that rule and ruin, wealth and poverty were fixed by fate and effort changed nothing. Mozi did not begin by arguing whether that was true. He first set a rule: a claim needs three tests. The first looks upward: have the ancient sage kings ever done this? The second looks downward: what have ordinary people actually heard and seen? The third puts it to work: does it help the state and its people?
Origin: where did it come from
The first test looks back: has anyone ever really made this work? Many voices shouting does not count. You need a precedent, and the precedent must be the same thing the claim is about today.
Someone says 'three people built a billion-dollar firm in a year'. First find who did it, and whether it was what he describes.
Witness: what the eyewitnesses say
The second test looks down at what ordinary people have heard and seen. Not commentary, not retelling: what those who used it say for themselves.
Before adopting a new tool, skip the launch event; ask someone who has used it three months which parts they still use and which they dropped.
Use: who benefits when it is put to work
The third test is to try it and see whether people are better off. It is the one most often dropped: even when the first two pass, look at whether the time saved turned into anything.
Trial it on a small scale for two weeks, then look at what you did with the time it saved.
How do I use it today?
Where you are: everyone around you says something new works, you cannot check it, and you fear missing out.
Ask first: has anyone made the same thing work before? What do those who used it say? If I try a small piece, does it do me any actual good?
Where it goes wrong: stopping at one test. The three go together: an origin with no eyewitness is hearsay, and an eyewitness with no use is a spectacle.
Lines to keep
A claim needs three tests.
Has it an origin, a source and a use?
Look down to what ordinary people saw and heard.
Same situation, other people are asking
Do I go all in now or wait it out?Everyone's piling in. Is being late actually fatal?The money pouring in looks insane. Do I stay out?Everyone is adopting this. Do I have to as well?Do I jump in now · all 7 questions →If this one named what you are going through,
send it to someone who needs it, or keep it somewhere you will find it again.