What Is Truth For?
eBook - ePub

What Is Truth For?

  1. English
  2. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

What Is Truth For?

About this book

Truth is for striving at, for the sake of good collective action.

With new media technologies, it seems that falsehoods can spread faster and further than ever. And with new norms of public discourse, while being caught in a lie would once end a politician's career, today it is shrugged off, which has profound implications for democracy. Does the truth no longer matter?

This optimist's guide to truth argues that the problem of truth is an ancient one. It contends that truth is the best device we have for coordinating collective decisions and actions, and that, while the truth itself is perpetually elusive, the concept of truth as a target ideal to strive for is supremely useful. If we do not strive for truth, our decisions will be risky at best, often foolish and sometimes disastrous. This longstanding problem will not be solved with modern technology or regulations, but with measures we must all apply: mindfulness, humility, cooperation and optimism.

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Yes, you can access What Is Truth For? by Nick Enfield,N.J. Enfield in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Epistemology in Philosophy. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Epigraph
  3. Series Page
  4. Available Now
  5. About the Author
  6. Title Page
  7. Copyright
  8. Dedication
  9. Epigraph
  10. Contents
  11. List of Figures
  12. Acknowledgements
  13. Preface
  14. 1 Is There Snow on Mount Everest?
  15. 2 True Statements are Good Reasons
  16. 3 The Two Realities
  17. 4 Collateral Effects
  18. 5 Always Striving, Never Arriving
  19. 6 The Ostrich Instruction
  20. 7 Mindful Optimism
  21. Notes
  22. Further Reading
  23. Index