Ken says that we would get around this if we had some method of tracking the truth. What is the postmodernists' problem with truth? Blackburn says that the general idea goes back to Nietzsche and it is that our judgments and beliefs are formed and shaped by various forces beyond our control. Another view is the pragmatist theory which says that the truth is valuable because it is useful. However, there is no higher-order verification of this judgment. The correspondence theory of truth says that there is some fact that makes a judgment true. Blackburn explains minimalism about truth, which says that there is no general answer about truth. John asks Blackburn to explain the nature of truth. Ken introduces the guest, Simon Blackburn, professor at Cambridge.

Ken thinks that you can't separate truth from believing because when we believe something, we take it to be true. There are a lot of truths that are irrelevant or trivial. John points out that sometimes the truth can be harmful, such as knowing where drugs are being sold. Having true beliefs help us act so as to satisfy our desires. I don't think I'd want to watch this movie unless they gave it some Bill Nye spin and the tag line would have to be something along the lines of ' The Philosophy Guy' (patent pending, but not really).What's so valuable about truth? Ken thinks that the value of truth is obvious. If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be? He'd almost blow out a little of his breathe every time he'd say what, or why during the introduction where both those words are frequently used. The narrator did a spectacular job but something a lot of people could probably look past but I couldn't was that he kept over-pronouncing(idk if this is a real word) the letter 'h' in 'wh' words. The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell is another recommended starting point for the subject of Philosophy by /r/philosophy, I haven't gotten around to giving it a read but I hope to soon.ĭid Norman Dietz do a good job differentiating all the characters? How? What other book might you compare Think to and why? I'm not sure this is the type of book that'd garner a second listen from most readers unless there was something you didn't quite understand, but that's just my opinion and I can't speak for anyone else. A Highly Recommended Starting Point for Philosophy

Simon blackburn think summary