Truth : A Guide

The 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. 0195168240......Page 0 Contents......Page 6 Preface......Page 10 Introduction......Page 14 CHAPTER 1 Faith, Belief and Reason......Page 24 1. Clifford’s Duties......Page 26 2. Will and Passion in James......Page 30 3. Fiction and Myth......Page 36 4. Kinds of Animation......Page 42 CHAPTER 2 Man the Measure......Page 46 1. Turning the Tables: the Recoil Argument......Page 48 2. Modern Judo......Page 52 3. The Variation of Subjectivities......Page 55 4. The Moving Bull’s-eye......Page 59 5. Doing it Ourselves......Page 62 CHAPTER 3 Ishmael’s Problem and the Delights of Keeping Quiet......Page 68 1. Who Tells the Tale?......Page 70 2. A Gestalt Switch......Page 78 3. You Tell Me, or Down with Pilate......Page 81 4. Moral Relativism......Page 86 5. Man the Measurer......Page 90 6. Summary......Page 93 CHAPTER 4 Nietzsche: the Arch Debunker......Page 96 1. Facts or Interpretations?......Page 98 2. Twilight of the Idols......Page 102 3. Perspectivism......Page 108 4. Adequate Words......Page 115 5. Heraclitus and the Flux......Page 121 6. The Darwinian Element......Page 127 CHAPTER 5 The Possibility of Philosophy......Page 130 1. Getting Puzzled......Page 132 2. Four Responses......Page 135 3. Eliminativism......Page 137 4. Realism......Page 140 5. Deconstructing the Issue......Page 144 6. The Constructivist Corner......Page 147 7. The Example of Wittgenstein......Page 152 CHAPTER 6 Observation and Truth: from Locke to Rorty......Page 160 1. Paradise Lost......Page 162 2. First Impressions......Page 163 3. Holism......Page 167 4. Davidson’s Mantle......Page 171 5. Rorty’s Talking World......Page 174 6. Keeping our Feet on the Ground......Page 179 7. Interlude: Law, Tennis and the Coffee-house......Page 185 8. A Political Message......Page 189 CHAPTER 7 Realism as Science; Realism about Science......Page 196 1. No Miracles......Page 198 2. Science Red in Tooth and Claw......Page 201 3. Explaining from Within......Page 203 4. Animation and Belief Again......Page 208 5. Underdetermination......Page 213 CHAPTER 8 Historians and Others......Page 220 1. Conceptual Schemes......Page 222 2. Mind Reading......Page 228 3. Mirroring......Page 233 4. Infirmities......Page 236 5. Collectives and their Histories......Page 242 6. Peace Breaks Out......Page 243 Notes......Page 246 D......Page 258 L......Page 259 S......Page 260 Blackburn is an eminent thinker who is able to explain philosophy to the general reader. Now he offers an 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 are well defined: on one side are those who believe in plain facts, rock-solid truths that can be found through reason and objectivity--that science leads to truth, for instance. Their opponents see the dark forces of language, culture, power, gender, class, ideology and desire--all subverting our perceptions of the world, and clouding our judgment with false notions of absolutes. Beginning with an early skirmish--when Socrates confronted the sophists in ancient Athens--Blackburn offers a penetrating look at the longstanding battle. Among the questions he considers are: is science mere opinion, can historians understand another historical period, and indeed can one culture ever truly understand another.--From publisher description A distinguished philosopher illuminates the age-old war over truth between one side that believes in plain, unvarnished facts and the other side that believes that judgment is clouded with false notions of absolute truth, in an exploration of the long-standing philosophical battle. In the Introduction I mentioned that for classical sceptics, a dearth of arguments, or a clash of countervailing arguments, led to peaceful suspension of belief, whereas in our own times it is seen more as a licence for people to believe what they like.