The war over the meaning and utility of truth is at the center of contemporary philosophical debate, and its arguments have rocked the foundations of philosophical practice. In this book, the American pragmatist Richard Rorty and the French analytic philosopher Pascal Engel present their radically different perspectives on truth and its correspondence to reality. What's the Use of Truth? is a rare opportunity to experience each side of this impassioned debate clearly and concisely. In What's the Use of Truth?, American pragmatist Richard Rorty and French analytic philosopher Pascal Engel present their radically different perspectives on truth and its correspondence to reality. Rorty doubts that the notion of truth can be of any practical use and points to the preconceptions that lie behind truth in the intellectual and social spheres. Engel prefers a realist conception, defending the relevance and value of truth as a norm of belief and inquiry in both science and the public domain. Rorty finds more danger in using the notion of truth than in getting rid of it. Engel thinks it is important to hold on to the idea that truth is an accurate representation of reality. What's the Use of Truth? is a rare opportunity to experience each side of this impassioned debate clearly and concisely. The subject has profound implications not only for philosophical inquiry but also for the future study of all aspects of our culture.
Richard Rorty and Pascal Engel's exchange about truth starts off in university tweed and ends up in a street fight. -- Bruce Krajewski, author of Gadamer's Repercussions: Reconsidering Philosophical Hermeneutics
Introduction, by Patrick Savidan Translator's Note Main Statement, by Pascal Engel Main Statement, by Richard Rorty Discussion Appendix Notes Bibliography
Richard Rorty has tried to bring the American pragmatist tradition together both with a Wittgensteinian approach to mind and language and with various themes in post-Nietzschean European thought. He has taught at Wellesley, Princeton, the University of Virginia, and Stanford and is the author of many books, including The Future of Religion with Gianni Vattimo. Pascal Engel is ordinary professor of contemporary philosophy at the University of Geneva, after having taught at the Sorbonne. He is the author of The Norm of Truth, Ramsey, Truth and Success, and Truth, and of books in French on Davidson, the philosophy of the mind, and analytic philosophy. His present work is focused on epistemology.
"Necessary for serious philosophy collections." -- Booklist
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