In Defense of Truth: A Pluralistic Approach
This wide-ranging philosophical exploration defends the idea of Truth (with a capital "T") against the claims of skeptics, relativists, postmodernists, and other nay-sayers. Philosopher Lenn E. Goodman builds a broad and pluralistic account that makes room for scientific, moral, religious, and artistic truth, and makes sense of mythic discourse, poetry, and fiction, without the patronizing expedient of relegating each human idiom to some separate world or the authoritarian expedient of...
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"Goodman writes with an urbane touch . . . There is quite a lot going on in this book, fully justifying its 431 pages . . . it's a collection of occasional essays on diverse topics, reflections on the philosophical tradition from Agrippa to Quine, by an author with a deep philosophical voice. The book's well worth opening up." -Philosophy in Review"Goodman's In Defense of Truth is a thought-provoking book which challenges its readers, whatever their epistemological position, to re-examine their own epistemological stance." -MindThis wide-ranging philosophical exploration defends the idea of Truth (with a capital "T") against the claims of skeptics, relativists, postmodernists, and other nay-sayers. Philosopher Lenn E. Goodman builds a broad and pluralistic account that makes room for scientific, moral, religious, and artistic truth, and makes sense of mythic discourse, poetry, and fiction, without the patronizing expedient of relegating each human idiom to some separate world or the authoritarian expedient of assigning each branch of inquiry to its own dogmatic priesthood.Goodman's catholic rationalism is open to all aspects of experience. Yet his wide sympathy for literature, the arts, and diverse religious traditions does not lead him to an indiscriminate endorsement of all comers. He is always ready to criticize wishful thinking and superstition on substantive grounds. Goodman's commitment to reason, broadly construed, allows him to steer a steady course well clear of both romantic and mechanistic extremes.Drawing on a wide and easy acquaintance with the great figures of the philosophical tradition, from the Presocratic naturalists and the ancient Indian and Confucian thinkers to Plato, Aristotle, the Epicureans, Pyrrhonists, Stoics, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic philosophers, moderns, and our own contemporaries, Goodman is always synthetic, challenging, engaging, and accessible. His vivid imagery, forceful rhetoric, lyrical passages, and glints of ironic humor make his writing an exciting excursion without a trace of scholastic aridity.Lenn E. Goodman (Nashville, TN) is professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University and the author of ten earlier books on comparative philosophy, metaphysics, and ethics.
Abbreviations and Short Titles11Preface131Skepticism and Logic271Agrippa's Modes282Is Reasoning Impossible?293Formality and Informality344The Problematic and the Unproblematic412Objects and Appearances521Phenomenalism Pure and not so Simple532The Dialectic of Phenomenalism563The Failure of Parsimony694Outcomes of Phenomenalism773Relativism891The Theory Dependence of Observations952Sealed Paradigms1003Incommensurability1034Natural Paradigms1075Inscrutability1136Ontological Relativity1174Context1321In behalf of Context1352Relativism or Pluralism?1533A Contextualist Dilemma?1694The Prince and the Princess1725Induction and Reality1791Induction: The Problem1822Rethinking Induction1893Reaching for Reality - and Getting There2034Induction and Justification2106Creativity and Discovery2291Creativity, Mystery, and Chance2322The Logic and Dynamic of Creativity2403What Makes for Creativity2494Creative Fictions in the Arts and Sciences2647Truth in Art2821Communicating, with or without Propositions2922Is Artistic Truth (as Such) Banal?3043Showing, with or without Argument3218Myth and Truth3371Dream Logic3392Myth and Determinism3533Mentalities?3639Moral Religious and Hypostatic Truth3821Hypostatic Truth3832Transcendentalist?3943Moral and Religious Truth3974Living the Truth403Bibliography413Index417
