Academic Year 2011-2012
Event Title
Why Progressives Need a (Minimally) Realist Theory of Truth
Disciplines
Sociology
Description
This presentation included arguments for the following claims:
- Progressive political and social criticism is conceptually coherent only if an argument can be given showing why some states of affairs are preferable to others.
- In order to justify the claim that some states of affairs are preferable to others, some minimally realist account of truth must be presupposed.
- Crude relativism about truth cannot provide a conceptually coherent foundation for progressive criticisms of any state of affairs and, by extension, cannot support justifications for preferring one state of affairs over others.
COinS
Why Progressives Need a (Minimally) Realist Theory of Truth
This presentation included arguments for the following claims:
- Progressive political and social criticism is conceptually coherent only if an argument can be given showing why some states of affairs are preferable to others.
- In order to justify the claim that some states of affairs are preferable to others, some minimally realist account of truth must be presupposed.
- Crude relativism about truth cannot provide a conceptually coherent foundation for progressive criticisms of any state of affairs and, by extension, cannot support justifications for preferring one state of affairs over others.