Truth, Reality, and Meaning: Philosophy in a Post-Truth Era
Edition: 2
Copyright: 2022
Pages: 163
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Truth, Reality, and Meaning: Philosophy in a Post-Truth Era empowers students to live an autonomous life—a life directed by right reason, illuminated by truth, and steered toward a body of facts which cannot and should not be ignored. Students gain a variety of viewpoints that add value to the way they live their lives as well as a deepened understanding of what philosophy is about.
Presented in a straightforward manner, Truth, Reality, and Meaning pulls no punches about truth and its relationship to facts. It emphasizes the importance of the scientific method, and through it, illuminates the world. Exposing students to a variety of philosophical topics, the text places special emphasis on the connections between them, elevating student understanding beyond mere comprehension. Through competing stances and arguments, Truth, Reality, and Meaning demonstrates that if one starts with a specific sense of truth, a realistic account of the world, and the nature of reality, one can also draw conclusions drawn about other issues.
Preface
Introduction
1 What is Truth?
Introduction
True and False Ideas
Personal Belief Relativism
Theological Belief Subjectivism
Political Belief Subjectivism
Moral Belief Intersubjectivism
Strange Idea Objection
True and False Proposition
Truth Relative to Worlds
Conclusion
Reflection Questions
2 What is the Nature of Reality?
Introduction
Aristotle and Aristotelian Metaphysics
Particulars
Universals
Essences
The Good
The New Scientific Ideal
The Nature of Reality
Trope Nominalism
Conclusion
Reflection Questions
3 What is the Meaning of Life?
Introduction
The Meaning of the “Meaning of Life”
Aristotle’s Best-Life Argument
Locke’s Best-Life Argument
Theological Supranaturalism
Naturalism
Hobbes and Locke
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)
John Stuart Mill (1806–1873)
Objection to Mill’s Mental-State Hedonism (The Swine Objection)
Nihilism
Ecclesiastes
Albert Camus (1913–1960)
Concluding Personal Remarks
Conclusion
Reflection Questions
4 What is the Good Society?
Introduction
Atomism and the Rise of Individualism
John Locke and the Two Treatises of Government
The Declaration of Independence
The U. S. Constitution
Individualism, Hyper-Individualism, and the Post-Truth Era
Conclusion
Reflective Questions
5 What is the Best Way to Live Life?
Introduction
What is the Best Way to Live Life?
Hyper-Individualism and Tolerance
A Return to Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill
Immanuel Kant and Deontology
John Stuart Mill and Consequentialism
Conclusion
Reflection Questions
6 Conclusion: Our Current Social and Political Context