Description before judgment
Truth By Reason first records the source, period, tradition, intended audience, authority status, form and major variations of a code. Primary wording, translation, traditional interpretation, editorial paraphrase and independent analysis are kept distinct.
Authority claims
A tradition may regard a rule as divine or binding. That belief is part of the historical record, but it does not by itself establish that the rule is morally correct or universally applicable.
Harm, benefit and evidence
The assessment considers physical and psychological suffering, freedom, health, trust, deprivation, exclusion, corruption, animal suffering, environmental damage and effects on future people. Conclusions should match the strength of the evidence.
Rights, fairness and power
Relevant considerations include life, bodily security, consent, privacy, conscience, expression, equality and fair treatment. The method asks whether roles could be reversed fairly and whether status, dependency or coercion affects the rule.
Intentions, consequences, duties and virtues
No single theory resolves every case. Intentions affect responsibility, consequences reveal harm or benefit, duties protect individuals from expedient sacrifice and virtues shape repeated choices.
Alternatives and scope
Harm is harder to justify when a safer alternative exists. A rule intended for monks, priests, householders or members of a covenant should not automatically become a duty for everyone.
Conflict and revision
Truthfulness may conflict with protection from violence, loyalty with justice and nonviolence with defence of another person. Assessments remain revisable when sources, translations, historical evidence or knowledge of consequences change.