Truth in context : an essay on pluralism and objectivity / Michael P. Lynch.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lynch, Michael P. (Michael Patrick), 1966- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Objectivity.

Pluralism.

Truth.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 184 pages)

Other Title:

MIT Press CogNet.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [1998]

System Details:

text file

Summary:

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 1999Academic debates aboutpluralism and truth have become increasingly polarized in recent years. One sideembraces extreme relativism, deeming any talk of objective truth as philosophicallyna?ve. The opposition, frequently arguing that any sort of relativism leads tonihilism, insists on an objective notion of truth according to which there is onlyone true story of the world. Both sides agree that there is no middle path.In Truthin Context, Michael Lynch argues that there is a middle path, one where metaphysicalpluralism is consistent with a robust realism about truth. Drawing on the work ofHilary Putnam, W. V. O. Quine, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, among others, Lynch developsan original version of metaphysical pluralism, which he calls relativisticKantianism. He argues that one can take facts and propositions as relative withoutimplying that our ordinary concept of truth is a relative, epistemic, or "soft"concept. The truths may be relative, but our concept of truth need not be.

Contents:

1 The Faces of Pluralism 9

1.1 The Problem 9

1.2 Faces of Absolutism 13

1.3 The Move to Pluralism 16

1.4 Metaphysical Pluralism 20

1.5 Facts and Content 24

1.6 Three Objections 27

2 Understanding Conceptual Schemes 31

2.1 Three Models 31

2.2 The Kantian Model 32

2.3 The Quinean Model 35

2.4 The Wittgensteinian Model 41

2.5 The Very Idea 49

3 Extending Our Worldview 55

3.1 Concepts: Two Pictures 55

3.2 Conceptual Fluidity and Family Resemblance 62

3.3 Conceptual Fluidity and Minimal Concepts 66

3.4 Concepts and Change 73

4 The Nature of Existence 77

4.1 Dilemmas Confronted 77

4.2 Objects and Existence 81

4.3 Dilemmas Resolved 91

4.4 The Idealism Objection 97

5 The Currents of Truth 101

5.1 What Is Realism about Truth? 101

5.2 Antirealism about Truth: Epistemic Theories 102

5.3 Antirealism about Truth: Deflationary Theories 111

5.4 The Correspondence Theory and Pluralism 119

5.5 Minimal Realism about Truth 125

5.6 Relative Truth 136

6 The True and the Real 141

6.1 Relativism, Inconsistency, and Self-Reference 141

6.2 On Stepping Outside of My Own Skin 145

6.3 Evaluating Schemes 147

6.4 Facing the Noumena 151

6.5 The Purpose of Metaphysics 155.

Notes:

"A Bradford book."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 169-175) and index.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Lynch, Michael P. (Michael Patrick), 1966- Truth in context.

ISBN:

9780262278713

0262278715

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.