Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!

Create Free Account

Truth

3.7/5 ( ratings)

“What is philosophy?” is a question that admits many answers. One of the simplest—and the best—was suggested by the philosopher John Campbell: “Thinking in slow motion.” But, for most people, slow motion is only appealing in small doses. A whole movie in slow-mo would be one for the art gallery, not the multiplex. This is the problem that faces those who want to write about philosophy for a broad readership: a certain amount of fast-forward is needed, but if you go too fast you’ll stop doing philosophy altogether.

John D Caputo’s entertaining investigation into the nature of truth gets the balance right. His project is to show how postmodernism can help us think through contemporary debates about religion, relativism and the legacy of the Enlightenment. Rather than dividing the world into strict categories such as the rational and irrational, Caputo’s postmodern approach tries to widen our understanding of truth. He is not a naive relativist, however. “I am not arguing against the truth of propositions,” he says. “I am arguing that truth cannot be confined to propositions.” This means taking seriously the truths one encounters in novels, say, as well as religious narratives.

As this last idea suggests, there is plenty in Truth to annoy Richard Dawkins, as well as many contemporary analytic philosophers—but the book is better off for its boldness. Rather than pre-empting every counter-attack, Caputo sets out his case confidently, enlisting Nietzsche, Kierkegaard and Derrida as his allies. This book does not claim to be the final word on truth—indeed Caputo believes the quest for an ultimate and unchanging definition of truth is doomed to failure—but it might be the starting point for a more sophisticated discussion.

Language: English

Pages: 262

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Penguin

Release: September 26, 2013

ISBN: 1846146003

ISBN 13: 9781846146008

Truth

3.7/5 ( ratings)

“What is philosophy?” is a question that admits many answers. One of the simplest—and the best—was suggested by the philosopher John Campbell: “Thinking in slow motion.” But, for most people, slow motion is only appealing in small doses. A whole movie in slow-mo would be one for the art gallery, not the multiplex. This is the problem that faces those who want to write about philosophy for a broad readership: a certain amount of fast-forward is needed, but if you go too fast you’ll stop doing philosophy altogether.

John D Caputo’s entertaining investigation into the nature of truth gets the balance right. His project is to show how postmodernism can help us think through contemporary debates about religion, relativism and the legacy of the Enlightenment. Rather than dividing the world into strict categories such as the rational and irrational, Caputo’s postmodern approach tries to widen our understanding of truth. He is not a naive relativist, however. “I am not arguing against the truth of propositions,” he says. “I am arguing that truth cannot be confined to propositions.” This means taking seriously the truths one encounters in novels, say, as well as religious narratives.

As this last idea suggests, there is plenty in Truth to annoy Richard Dawkins, as well as many contemporary analytic philosophers—but the book is better off for its boldness. Rather than pre-empting every counter-attack, Caputo sets out his case confidently, enlisting Nietzsche, Kierkegaard and Derrida as his allies. This book does not claim to be the final word on truth—indeed Caputo believes the quest for an ultimate and unchanging definition of truth is doomed to failure—but it might be the starting point for a more sophisticated discussion.

Language: English

Pages: 262

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Penguin

Release: September 26, 2013

ISBN: 1846146003

ISBN 13: 9781846146008

More books from John D. Caputo

What Would Jesus Deconstruct?: The Good News of Postmodernism for the Church

3.8/5 ( ratings)

On Religion

3.9/5 ( ratings)

Deconstruction in a Nutshell: Conversation with Jacques Derrida

3.7/5 ( ratings)

The Weakness of God: A Theology of the Event

4.1/5 ( ratings)

Philosophy and Theology

The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida: Religion Without Religion

How to Read Kierkegaard

3.7/5 ( ratings)

Hermeneutics: Facts and Interpretation in the Age of Information

4.1/5 ( ratings)

Hoping Against Hope: Confessions of a Postmodern Pilgrim

4.1/5 ( ratings)

After the Death of God

3.9/5 ( ratings)

Truth: Philosophy in Transit

4.1/5 ( ratings)

God, the Gift, and Postmodernism

4.1/5 ( ratings)

The Insistence of God: A Theology of Perhaps (Indiana Series in the Philosophy of Religion)

4.3/5 ( ratings)

It Spooks: Living in response to an unheard call

4.5/5 ( ratings)

Augustine and Postmodernism: Confessions and Circumfession

50 Concepts for a Critical Phenomenology

4.7/5 ( ratings)

Hans Urs Von Balthasar and the Dramatic Structure of Truth: A Philosophical Investigation

4.4/5 ( ratings)

Modernity and Its Discontents

4.6/5 ( ratings)

The Insistence of God: A Theology of Perhaps

Augustine and Philosophy

Rate this book!

Write a review?