Truth and Truthfulness

Zusatztext "Bernard Williams' last book is the most interesting set of reflections on the values of truth and truth-telling in living memory. His grasp of philosophical arguments is astonishing. . . . The book manages to be both learned and passionate without being pretentious. And of course witty; . . . Williams' analytic expertise is combined with an acute sensibility to historical facts, or claims to fact, about the history of practices of telling the truth about the past, or about oneself. He writes about what Western civilisations do and have done in trying to find out and to tell the truth. The book presents what are argued to be human universals about the values of truth, as opposed to the historical circumstances in which particular ways of finding out come into being." ---Ian Hacking, Canadian Journal of Philosophy Informationen zum Autor Bernard Williams was Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge (1967-1979) and Provost of King's College. He held the Monroe Deutsch Professorship of Philosophy at the University of California! Berkeley (1998-2000) and was White's Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Oxford (1990-2003). He was Fellow of All Souls College! Oxford until his death in 2003. Klappentext "In this exceptionally brilliant book, ranging effortlessly from Herodotus and Thucydides to Diderot and Nietzsche, Bernard Williams daringly asks--and still more daringly answers--one of the central questions of philosophy: what is the point of telling the truth? Lucid, penetrating, and profound, Williams' reflections are vitally important not for philosophers alone but for anyone interested in human thought and creativity."--Stephen Greenblatt, Cogan University Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University"This is a major, wide-ranging, and comprehensive book. A philosophical investigation that is also a literary and historical study, "Truth and Truthfulness" asks how and why we have come to think of accuracy, sincerity, and authenticity as virtues. Bernard Williams' account of their emergence is as detailed and imaginative as his defense of their importance is spirited and provocative. Williams asks hard questions, and gives them straightforward and controversial answers. His book does not simply describe and advocate these virtues of truthfulness; it manifests them."--Alexander Nehamas, author of "Virtues of Authenticity" Zusammenfassung What does it mean to be truthful? What role does truth play in our lives? What do we lose if we reject truthfulness? No philosopher is better suited to answer these questions than Bernard Williams. Writing with his characteristic combination of passion and elegant simplicity, he explores the value of truth and finds it to be both less and more than we might imagine. Modern culture exhibits two attitudes toward truth: suspicion of being deceived (no one wants to be fooled) and skepticism that objective truth exists at all (no one wants to be naive). This tension between a demand for truthfulness and the doubt that there is any truth to be found is not an abstract paradox. It has political consequences and signals a danger that our intellectual activities, particularly in the humanities, may tear themselves to pieces. Williams's approach, in the tradition of Nietzsche's genealogy, blends philosophy, history, and a fictional account of how the human concern with truth might have arisen. Without denying that we should worry about the contingency of much that we take for granted, he defends truth as an intellectual objective and a cultural value. He identifies two basic virtues of truth, Accuracy and Sincerity, the first of which aims at finding out the truth and the second at telling it. He describes different psychological and social forms that these virtues have taken and asks what ideas can make best sense of them today. Truth and Tr...

Auteur

Bernard Williams

Texte du rabat

"In this exceptionally brilliant book, ranging effortlessly from Herodotus and Thucydides to Diderot and Nietzsche, Bernard Williams daringly asks--and still more daringly answers--one of the central questions of philosophy: what is the point of telling the truth? Lucid, penetrating, and profound, Williams' reflections are vitally important not for philosophers alone but for anyone interested in human thought and creativity."--Stephen Greenblatt, Cogan University Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University

"This is a major, wide-ranging, and comprehensive book. A philosophical investigation that is also a literary and historical study, Truth and Truthfulness asks how and why we have come to think of accuracy, sincerity, and authenticity as virtues. Bernard Williams' account of their emergence is as detailed and imaginative as his defense of their importance is spirited and provocative. Williams asks hard questions, and gives them straightforward and controversial answers. His book does not simply describe and advocate these virtues of truthfulness; it manifests them."--Alexander Nehamas, author of Virtues of Authenticity

Résumé
Explores the value of truth and finds it to be both less and more than we might imagine. This book identifies two basic virtues of truth, accuracy and sincerity. It describes different psychological and social forms that these virtues have taken and asks what ideas can make best sense of them.

Contenu
Chapter 1: The Problem 1. Truthfulness and Truth 1 2. Authority 7 3. Nietzsche 12 Chapter 2: Genealogy 1. Real and Fictional 20 2. Naturalism 22 3. The State of Nature Is Not the Pleistocene 27 4. How Can Fictions Help? 31 5. Shameful Origins 35 6. The Genealogy of Truthfulness 38 Chapter 3: The State of Nature: A Rough Guide 1. The Division of Labour 41 2. Plain Truths 45 3. Space, Time, and Indeterminacy 53 4. Value: The Story So Far 57 Chapter 4: Truth, Assertion, and Belief 1. Truth Itself 63 2. Assertions and Truth 66 3. Assertions and Knowledge 76 4. Beliefs and Truth 79 Chapter 5: Sincerity: Lying and Other Styles of Deceit 1. Value: An Internal Connection? 84 2. Trust 88 3. Trustworthiness in Speech 93 4. Dispositions of Sincerity 96 5. Fetishizing Assertion 100 6. Deserving the Truth 110 Chapter 6: Accuracy: A Sense of Reality 1. The Elaboration of Accuracy 123 2. Methods and Obstacles 126 3. Realismand Fantasy 135 4. Truthfulness and Freedom 141 Chapter 7: What Was Wrong with Minos? 1. Introduction 149 2. Thucydides 151 3. "Legendary Times" 155 4. The Past and the Truth 161 Chapter 8: From Sincerity to Authenticity 1. An Ambiguous Invention 172 2. Rousseau 173 3. Diderot and Rameau's Nephew 185 4. Steadying the Mind 191 5. Authenticity and Other People 199 Chapter 9: Truthfulness, Liberalism, and Critique 1. Truth and Politics 206 2. Democracy and Liberty 210 3. The Marketplace of Ideas 213 4. Critique 219 5. The Critical Theory Test 225 Chapter 10: Making Sense 1. Narratives 233 2. Structures and Explanations 241 3. Audiences 250 4. Needs 258 Endnote. The Vocabulary of Truth: An Example 271 Notes 279 Bibliography 309 Acknowledgements 321 Index 323