We have come to understand that sincerity is inherently valuable and cannot simply be traded for personal interest or short-term utility. However, maintaining sincerity is quite difficult. If people—especially those in power—believe that lying could somehow benefit the group and maintain social stability, it might seem there is no reason to stick to sincerity. Yet, we must acknowledge that much of the scientific progress made so far has happened precisely because we adhered to sincerity, which has generated immense benefits for the masses over the long term. Therefore, the social utility of sincerity actually depends on people’s non-utilitarian attitude toward truth. If this attitude is lost, we will also lose the utility that sincerity provides. Sincerity is crucial because, through long-term cooperation, we have found that without a stable commitment to it, we cannot maintain a stable society. That is why we have come to regard sincerity as an essential epistemic virtue.

我们已经认识到，真诚本身是有价值的。它不能被用来交易个人利益，不能说为了更多的效用就去出卖真诚。但维持真诚其实非常困难。因为如果人们（尤其是那些大人物）认为，某种谎言或许能为集体带来利益并维持社会稳定，那么坚持真诚似乎就没有什么理由了。但我们必须承认，迄今为止取得的许多科学进步，正是因为我们坚持了真诚，而且从长远来看，它为广大群众带来了巨大的利益。因此，真诚所具备的社会效用，其实依赖于人们对真相抱持的非功利态度。如果这种态度消失了，我们也将失去真诚所带来的效用。真诚之所以重要，是因为在长期的合作中我们发现，如果没有对真诚的稳定承诺，我们就无法维持一个稳定的社会。这就是为什么我们开始将真诚视为一种认知美德。