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Why Truth Matters
Ophelia Benson
€ 12.00
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Description for Why Truth Matters
Hardback. Truth has always been a central preoccupation of philosophy in all its forms and traditions. An inspiring argument for restoring truth to its rightful place, this book takes a look at how and why modern thought and culture lost sight of the importance of truth. It is useful for those enraged by the worst excesses of the fashionable intelligentsia. Num Pages: 216 pages, black & white illustrations. BIC Classification: HPK. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 225 x 140 x 19. Weight in Grams: 412. 8vo.Good copy a little dusty.
Truth has always been a central preoccupation of philosophy in all its forms and traditions. However, in the late twentieth century truth became suddenly rather unfashionable. The precedence given to assorted political and ideological agendas, along with the rise of relativism, postmodernism and pseudoscience in academia, led to a decline both of truth as a serious subject, and an intellectual tradition that began with the Enlightenment. Why Truth Matters is a timely, incisive and entertaining look at how and why modern thought and culture lost sight of the importance of truth. It is also an eloquent and inspiring argument for restoring truth to its rightful place. Jeremy Stangroom and Ophelia Benson, editors of the successful butterfliesandwheels website - itself established to 'fight fashionable nonsense' - identify and debunk such nonsense, and the spurious claims made for it, in all its forms. Their account ranges over religious fundamentalism, Holocaust denial, the challenges of postmodernism and deconstruction, the wilful misinterpretation of evolutionary biology, identity politics and wishful thinking. Why Truth Matters is both a rallying cry for the Enlightement vision and an essential read for anyone who's ever been bored, frustrated, bewildered or plain enraged by the worst excesses of the fashionable intelligentsia.
Product Details
Condition
Used, Very Good
Publisher
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Format
Hardback
Publication date
2006
Number of Pages
216
Place of Publication
London, United Kingdom
ISBN
9780826476081
SKU
KEX0297337
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 2 to 4 working days
Ref
99-1
About Ophelia Benson
Jermey Stangroom is co-editor (with Julian Baggini) of The Philosophers' Magazine and the successful philosophy books, What Philosophy Is and Great Thinkers A-Z. He and Ophelia Benson are editors of www.butterfliesandwheels.com
Reviews for Why Truth Matters
. ..valuable little book... -;lt;em>Financial Times
Simon Blackburn Financial Times In this accessible text, the editors of the Butterfliesandwheels.com website critically examine the current trend of skepticism regarding the reality, meaning, possibility and importance of the truth. Calling for a return to the intellectual tradition of the Enlightenment, they expose the faulty thinking of everyone from religious fundamentalists and Holocaust deniers to relativist intellectuals and postmodernist academics. Reference & Research Book News, February 2007. . ..valuable little book... -;em>Financial Times
Simon Blackburn Financial Times Book review in The Guardian, Steven Poole's Non-fiction Choice
Sanford Lakoff The Guardian . ..valuable little book... - Simon Blackburn, Financial Times
Sanford Lakoff Financial Times Why truth matters is an excellent example of philosophy done well but also, and not coincidentally, made accessible and exciting. Simon Blackburn, Financial Times
Sanford Lakoff Financial Times 'Benson and Stangroom effectively uncover the way academic institutions and cultures can generate pressures to create more and more elaborate Theory. '
Sanford Lakoff Times Literary Supplement 'Though its arguments are simple, straightforward and unpretentious, the book is still remarkably effective in retaining the interest of specialists. Although perhaps is even more successful for its care in not showing, at the same time, condescension towards lay readers. In so doing, it teaches by example.' J. Elias Saidennunez, Lund University, Consciousness, Literature and the Arts, Vol 7 No. 3, Dec 2006
Sanford Lakoff 'A sassy and profound response to [a] cascade of superstition and silliness ... Benson and Stangroom answer the clotted, barely readable sentences of the postmodernists with sentences so clear you could swim in them. There should be a law demanding every purchase of a Jacques Derrida book be accompanied with a free copy of this shimmering, glimmering answer.'
Sanford Lakoff Independent, The Reviewed on Classic FM's Classic Newsnight - 26 Sept 2007 'A clear, accessible and hugely important account of what it is to be rational. Popular philosophy at its best.'
Simon Blackburn Financial Times In this accessible text, the editors of the Butterfliesandwheels.com website critically examine the current trend of skepticism regarding the reality, meaning, possibility and importance of the truth. Calling for a return to the intellectual tradition of the Enlightenment, they expose the faulty thinking of everyone from religious fundamentalists and Holocaust deniers to relativist intellectuals and postmodernist academics. Reference & Research Book News, February 2007. . ..valuable little book... -;em>Financial Times
Simon Blackburn Financial Times Book review in The Guardian, Steven Poole's Non-fiction Choice
Sanford Lakoff The Guardian . ..valuable little book... - Simon Blackburn, Financial Times
Sanford Lakoff Financial Times Why truth matters is an excellent example of philosophy done well but also, and not coincidentally, made accessible and exciting. Simon Blackburn, Financial Times
Sanford Lakoff Financial Times 'Benson and Stangroom effectively uncover the way academic institutions and cultures can generate pressures to create more and more elaborate Theory. '
Sanford Lakoff Times Literary Supplement 'Though its arguments are simple, straightforward and unpretentious, the book is still remarkably effective in retaining the interest of specialists. Although perhaps is even more successful for its care in not showing, at the same time, condescension towards lay readers. In so doing, it teaches by example.' J. Elias Saidennunez, Lund University, Consciousness, Literature and the Arts, Vol 7 No. 3, Dec 2006
Sanford Lakoff 'A sassy and profound response to [a] cascade of superstition and silliness ... Benson and Stangroom answer the clotted, barely readable sentences of the postmodernists with sentences so clear you could swim in them. There should be a law demanding every purchase of a Jacques Derrida book be accompanied with a free copy of this shimmering, glimmering answer.'
Sanford Lakoff Independent, The Reviewed on Classic FM's Classic Newsnight - 26 Sept 2007 'A clear, accessible and hugely important account of what it is to be rational. Popular philosophy at its best.'