AuthorSlob, Wouter H. author
TitleDialogical Rhetoric [electronic resource] : An Essay on Truth and Normativity After Postmodernism / by Wouter H. Slob
ImprintDordrecht : Springer Netherlands : Imprint: Springer, 2002
Connect tohttp://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0476-3
Descript IX, 224 p. online resource

SUMMARY

Contemporary developments in philosophy have declared truth as such troublesome, and not merely gaining access to it. In a systematic survey this study investigates what is at stake when truth is given up. A historical overview shows how the current problem of truth came about, and suggests ways to overcome rather than to repair the problem. A key issue resulting from the loss of truth is the lack of normativity. Truth provided an alternative understanding of normativity. Elaborating on the ̀dialectical shift' in logic, a dialogico-rhetorical understanding of normativity is presented. Rather than requiring truth, agreement, or rationality, dialogico-rhetorical normativity is the result of a balance of particular standards. This type of normativity is shaped within discussions - by advancing and accepting arguments - and is not located in sets of predetermined rules. The result is a s̀mall' but strong form of normativity. If this understanding of normativity is viable, one of the central problems of contemporary philosophy, the problem of incommensurability, can be seen in a different light. As a result, truth reappears again. Surviving the postmodern criticisms, it is a matter of accountability rather than of description


CONTENT

1. Truth; what is the problem? -- 2. A short history of truth and related matters -- 3. From dialogue to rhetoric -- 4. What is wrong with fallacies? -- 5. Holistic incommensurability -- Conclusion -- Endnotes -- References


SUBJECT

  1. Philosophy
  2. Epistemology
  3. Logic
  4. Modern philosophy
  5. Religion -- Philosophy
  6. Philosophy
  7. Logic
  8. Epistemology
  9. Modern Philosophy
  10. Philosophy of Religion
  11. History of Philosophy