Truth: A GuideThe author of the highly popular book Think, which Time magazine hailed as "the one book every smart person should read to understand, and even enjoy, the key questions of philosophy," Simon Blackburn is that rara avis--an eminent thinker who is able to explain philosophy to the general reader. Now Blackburn offers a tour de force exploration of what he calls "the most exciting and engaging issue in the whole of philosophy"--the age-old war over truth. The front lines of this war are well defined. On one side are those who believe in plain, unvarnished facts, rock-solid truths that can be found through reason and objectivity--that science leads to truth, for instance. Their opponents mock this idea. They see the dark forces of language, culture, power, gender, class, ideology and desire--all subverting our perceptions of the world, and clouding our judgement with false notions of absolute truth. Beginning with an early skirmish in the war--when Socrates confronted the sophists in ancient Athens--Blackburn offers a penetrating look at the longstanding battle these two groups have waged, examining the philosophical battles fought by Plato, Protagoras, William James, David Hume, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Richard Rorty, and many others, with a particularly fascinating look at Nietzsche. Among the questions Blackburn considers are: is science mere opinion, can historians understand another historical period, and indeed can one culture ever truly understand another. Blackburn concludes that both sides have merit, and that neither has exclusive ownership of truth. What is important is that, whichever side we embrace, we should know where we stand and what is to be said for our opponents. |
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Page iv
... means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book Set in 9.25/12.5 pt Linotype Sabon Typeset by Palimpsest Book ...
... means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book Set in 9.25/12.5 pt Linotype Sabon Typeset by Palimpsest Book ...
Page xiii
... mean the same, and some people who stand on one side or the other would be choosy about allowing them to apply to themselves. So for the moment they simply act as pointers. Put like this, it may sound as if only special kinds of people ...
... mean the same, and some people who stand on one side or the other would be choosy about allowing them to apply to themselves. So for the moment they simply act as pointers. Put like this, it may sound as if only special kinds of people ...
Page xxi
... means that we should not be slaves of simplistic relativisms, or of equally simplistic absolutisms. And whichever way our temperaments pull us, we should at least know where we are, and what there is to be said on the other side. And ...
... means that we should not be slaves of simplistic relativisms, or of equally simplistic absolutisms. And whichever way our temperaments pull us, we should at least know where we are, and what there is to be said on the other side. And ...
Page 3
... means 'faith like ours' rather than the conflicting faiths of others. Insincerity still bothers us: even a politician should not be caught saying what he does not believe. But as for what a person does believe, well that, we tend to ...
... means 'faith like ours' rather than the conflicting faiths of others. Insincerity still bothers us: even a politician should not be caught saying what he does not believe. But as for what a person does believe, well that, we tend to ...
Page 6
... means 'sinking back into savagery'. Clifford is admirably stern about the position of the untroubled, unclouded innocent who just believes what he has been told: If a man, holding a belief which he was taught in childhood or persuaded ...
... means 'sinking back into savagery'. Clifford is admirably stern about the position of the untroubled, unclouded innocent who just believes what he has been told: If a man, holding a belief which he was taught in childhood or persuaded ...
Contents
1 | |
CHAPTER 2 Man the Measure | 23 |
CHAPTER 3 Ishmaels Problem and the Delights of Keeping Quiet | 45 |
the Arch Debunker | 73 |
CHAPTER 5 The Possibility of Philosophy | 107 |
from Locke to Rorty | 137 |
CHAPTER 7 Realism as Science Realism about Science | 173 |
CHAPTER 8 Historians and Others | 197 |
Notes | 223 |
Index | 235 |
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Common terms and phrases
absolute absolutist accept appear belief Bernard Williams better bull’s-eye Cambridge chapter claim Clifford commitments conception consider Cratylus dark forces David Hume Davidson describe doctrine eliminativism empirically adequate ethics example explain false fiction Francis Bacon Friedrich Nietzsche give historian hold holism human Hume’s idea illusion inconsistent interpretation issue judgement Kant knowledge language logos look Ludwig Wittgenstein mathematics means Meta Story metaphor metaphysical mind moral nature Nietzsche Nietzsche’s norms notion objectivity ourselves Oxford University Press perhaps perspective philosophers Plato problem Protagoras question quietist R. G. Collingwood realism reality reason recoil argument relativism relativist religious Richard Rorty Rorty’s scepticism scientific sense simply Socrates someone stand success suppose talk tell theory things Thomas Nagel thought tion totally empirically true truth turn understanding variation of subjectivities vocabulary W. V. Quine Walter Kaufmann Wittgenstein words wrong