Dialogical rhetoric : an essay on truth and normativity after postmodernism /
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...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Dordrecht ; Boston :
Kluwer Academic Publishers,
[2002]
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| Series: | Argumentation library ;
v. 7. |
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| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| 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 `small' 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. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (vii, 224 pages) |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 205-218) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9789401004763 (electronic bk.) 9401004765 (electronic bk.) |