Pragmatist Truth in the Post-Truth Age (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781316517703)

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 Pihlstr 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, Pihlstr 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.

Author: Sami Pihlstr
ISBN-10: 1316517705
ISBN-13: 9781316517703
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 09/23/2021
Pages: 260
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.13lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.63d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 08/01/2022