Pragmatist Truth in the Post-Truth Age: Sincerity, Normativity, and Humanism

Sami Pihlström

doi:10.1017/9781009047142

It is commonly believed that populist politics and social media pose a serious threat to our concept of truth. Philosophical pragmatists, who are typically thought to regard truth as merely that which is 'helpful' for us to believe, are sometimes blamed for providing the theoretical basis for the phenomenon of 'post-truth'. In this book, Sami Pihlström develops a pragmatist account of truth and truth-seeking based on the ideas of William James, and defends a thoroughly pragmatist view of humanism which gives space for a sincere search for truth. By elaborating on James's pragmatism and the 'will to believe' strategy in the philosophy of religion, Pihlström argues for a Kantian-inspired transcendental articulation of pragmatism that recognizes irreducible normativity as a constitutive feature of our practices of pursuing the truth. James himself thereby emerges as a deeply Kantian thinker.

‘Recommended.’

J. R. Shook Source: Choice Connect

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Pragmatist Truth in the Post-Truth Age

Sincerity, Normativity, and Humanism

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Contents

Pragmatist Truth in the Post-Truth Age
pp i-ii

Pragmatist Truth in the Post-Truth Age - Title page
pp iii-iii

Copyright page
pp iv-iv

Epigraph
pp v-vi

Contents
pp vii-vii

Acknowledgments
pp viii-xii

Introduction
pp 1-11

Chapter 1 - James’s Children?
pp 12-39

Chapter 2 - Religious Truth and Pluralism from a Pragmatist Point of View
pp 40-68

Chapter 3 - Around or through Kant?
pp 69-100

Chapter 4 - The Will to Believe and Holistic Pragmatism
pp 101-143

Chapter 5 - How Is Normativity Possible?
pp 144-177

Chapter 6 - Pragmatic Agnosticism – Meaning, Truth, and Suffering
pp 178-217

Conclusion
pp 218-225

References
pp 226-237

Index
pp 238-244

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Pragmatist Truth in the Post-Truth Age

Sincerity, Normativity, and Humanism

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