Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. oncluding on "Universality and Truth" from Richard Rorty's Pragmatism As Anti-Authoritarianism. Start with the previous part, or better yet, ep. 349. Despite Rorty's rejection of transcendent Truth, he claims not to be a relativist. An absolutist accusing someone of being a relativist is Continue Reading …
Ep. 350: Rorty on Justification and Essentialism (Part Two for Supporters)
Concluding on "Universality and Truth" from Richard Rorty's Pragmatism As Anti-Authoritarianism. Start with the previous part, or better yet, ep. 349. Despite Rorty's rejection of transcendent Truth, he claims not to be a relativist. An absolutist accusing someone of being a relativist is saying "either our beliefs are caused by things in the world or we are constructing Continue Reading …
Ep. 349: Rorty’s Pluralistic Pragmatism (Part One)
Subscribe to get parts 1 and 2 of this now, ad-free, plus tons of bonus content. On Richard Rorty's Pragmatism As Anti-Authoritarianism (written 1997), ch. 1-2. Should democracy be defended on absolutist grounds, e.g. by reference to God-given or natural rights, the nature of Man, or the dictates of Reason? Sponsor: Get a $1/month e-commerce trial at Continue Reading …
Ep. 349: Rorty’s Pluralistic Pragmatism (Part Two for Supporters)
Continuing from part one on Richard Rorty's Pragmatism As Anti-Authoritarianism, ch. 1, "Pragmatism and Religion" and 2, "Pragmatism as Romantic Polytheism." Rorty evaluates James, Dewey, and Peirce on religion and finds Dewey's approach most fruitful toward promoting democracy. While James promoted tolerance, Dewey thought that we should regulate our actions and beliefs by Continue Reading …
Ep. 349: Rorty’s Pluralistic Pragmatism (Part One for Supporters)
On Richard Rorty's Pragmatism As Anti-Authoritarianism (written 1997), ch. 1-2. Should democracy be defended on absolutist grounds, e.g. by reference to God-given or natural rights, the nature of Man, or the dictates of Reason? Throughout this book (adapted from a series of 1997 lectures but not published until 2021 after Rorty's death), Rorty argues that democracy, ethics, Continue Reading …
Ep. 195: Truth-The Austin/Strawson Debate (Citizen Edition)
On two articles in the "ordinary language" tradition of philosophy called "Truth" from 1950 by J.L. Austin and P.F. Strawson. You may remember John Langshaw Austin as the performatives guy, but it's actually Peter Frederick Strawson (whom we covered in the context of free will) who (shortly before either of these papers) came up with what has become known as the performative Continue Reading …
Ep. 194: Alfred Tarski on Truth (Citizen Edition)
On Tarski's “The Semantic Conception of Truth and the Foundations of Semantics,” (1944), Hartry Field's “Tarski's Theory of Truth” (1972), and Donald Davidson's “The Folly of Trying to Define Truth” (1977). What is truth? Tarski gives a technical, metaphysically neutral definition for truth within a particular, well-defined language. In short, a sentence is true if it is Continue Reading …
Nietzsche the Hydra
[Editor's Note: Thanks to Randall Miron for this post. Randall's a long-time audio editor of ours and has been helping edit blog posts here recently as well.] In his short book Nietzsche, subtitled “Nietzsche’s Voices,” Ronald Hayman argues that, “Like Kierkegaard, who made copious use of pseudonyms and personae, Nietzsche was exploring his ambivalence.” This theme is Continue Reading …
The Leap of Faith: The Creative Element of Science
[Editor's Note: Thanks to new contributor Rob Graumans for this one!] Scientific realists are known to have a positive epistemic attitude towards the content of our best scientific theories and models. The exact interpretation of this philosophical tenet can, however, differ dramatically between each of its proponents. Some of these base their idea of the truthfulness of Continue Reading …
PREVIEW-Episode 61: Nietzsche on Truth and Skepticism
This is a short preview of the full episode. Buy Now Purchase this episode for $2.99. Or become a PEL Citizen for $5 a month, and get access to this and all other paywalled episodes, including 68 back catalogue episodes; exclusive Part 2's for episodes published after September, 2020; and our after-show Nightcap, where the guys respond to listener email and chat more causally. Continue Reading …
Eco Locating Meaning
Every now and then you find something that is, on the one hand, unexpected. The thought of it hadn't occurred to you, neither as a fact found through the memes of popular culture nor as an extrapolation from your current knowledge. On the other hand, the discovery isn't so much a surprise as simply new information that really just fits in with all the rest. My most recent such Continue Reading …
Topic for #61: Nietzsche on Truth
Listen to the episode. We discussed Nietzsche's conception of truth as presented in his essay "On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense," written in 1873 but unpublished until after his death with guest Jessica Berry of Georgia State University, who published Nietzsche and the Ancient Skeptical Tradition just last year. This Nietzsche essay has been extremely influential for Continue Reading …
Foucault Was No Relativist
[Editor's Note: We're pleased to have some more blog input here from Getty, the guest from our Hume/Smith episode, who wrote his undergrad thesis on Foucault and was in line to be a guest on this one himself. You can blame me for the image, which I found here.] Was Foucault a relativist about truth? Truth-relativism is the doctrine that there are no absolute truths, only Continue Reading …
Catherine Elgin on the Epistemic Efficacy of Stupidity
One of the chapters that I referred to from Nelson Goodman's final book, Reconceptions in Philosophy and Other Arts and Sciences,was "The Epistemic Efficacy of Stupidity." I've found that article online (I can't swear it's exactly the same as the version in Reconceptions, but it seems to have all the elements intact) here. It critiques both the correspondence and coherence Continue Reading …