Template:Critical theory, modernism and the death of objective truth: Difference between revisions

no edit summary
No edit summary
No edit summary
Line 4: Line 4:
Most conspiracy theories contain a grain of [[truth]]. Some are completely true. There has to be ''something'' for the credulous people to glom onto. As it matures, [[critical theory]] begins to resemble a [[conspiracy theory]].
Most conspiracy theories contain a grain of [[truth]]. Some are completely true. There has to be ''something'' for the credulous people to glom onto. As it matures, [[critical theory]] begins to resemble a [[conspiracy theory]].


[[Critical theory]]’s grain of truth, ironically, is that ''there is no truth''. Well, not quite that — that is a self-refuting statement — but that the idea of a transcendent, objective “truth” is ''incoherent''.  There is no [[objective truth]], ''because the idea of “objective truth” doesn’t make sense''. “Truth” is property of language. “Objects” are not. Objects ''aren’t'' true or false: ''only propositions about them are''. Propositions are linguistic artifacts. Outside the language they are uttered in, they are only marks on a page.
[[Critical theory]]’s grain of truth, ironically, is that ''there is no truth''.  
 
Well, not ''quite'' “it is true that there is no truth”  refutes itself, after all — but rather that the idea of “[[objective truth]]” is ''incoherent''.  There is no [[objective truth]], ''because the idea of “objective truth” doesn’t make sense''. Truths are ''propositions'' about ''things''. Propositions put things into a relationship with each other: “the cat sat on the mat”. “Propositions” are a property of language: they only exist within the framework of a language. “Things” are not — things (we preesume — have continutiy whether we see them or not, and whether we talk about them or not. Things are properties of the universe.  
 
Thus, things ''aren’t'' true or false: ''only propositions about things are''. Propositions are prisoners of the language they are articulated in. beyond it, they are only marks on a page.
 
“گربه روی کلاه نشست”
 
See?
 
Truths are propositions. Truths, therefore are prisoners of the language they are articulated in. Truth cannot “transcend” language.


This is its debt to [[post-modernism]], and it is a proposition that contemporary rationalists find hard to accept, whether hailing from the right — see {{author|Douglas Murray}}’s {{br|The Madness of Crowds}} for an articulate example — or the left — see {{author|Helen Pluckrose}}’s patient and detailed examination in {{br|Cynical Theories}}.
This is its debt to [[post-modernism]], and it is a proposition that contemporary rationalists find hard to accept, whether hailing from the right — see {{author|Douglas Murray}}’s {{br|The Madness of Crowds}} for an articulate example — or the left — see {{author|Helen Pluckrose}}’s patient and detailed examination in {{br|Cynical Theories}}.