- May 7th, 2025, 1:59 pm
#474233
This topic is about the May 2025 Philosophy Book of the Month, The Contentment Dilemma: Examining Life’s Mysteries and Purposes by Marcus Hurst
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Marcus Hurst begins his book with a provocative stance: truth is objective. He defends this position from both spiritual and rational perspectives, implying that the truth itself remains unaffected even if people perceive it differently. This view approximates some traditional philosophical analysis: Plato's realm of forms, Kant's noumenal world, etc. In all of these cases, truth is assumed to exist regardless of human opinion.
But in a postmodern world, fraught with contradictory narratives, subjective truths, and cultural relativism, is it useful to speak about "objective truth" anymore? Is there a single, universal truth that exists independent of us—or do we all have access to different interpretations of reality? Is it permissible for a person's "truth" to coexist in validity with another person's contradictory truth if that person's truth provides them meaning or serves a moral purpose?
Marcus Hurst begins his book with a provocative stance: truth is objective. He defends this position from both spiritual and rational perspectives, implying that the truth itself remains unaffected even if people perceive it differently. This view approximates some traditional philosophical analysis: Plato's realm of forms, Kant's noumenal world, etc. In all of these cases, truth is assumed to exist regardless of human opinion.
But in a postmodern world, fraught with contradictory narratives, subjective truths, and cultural relativism, is it useful to speak about "objective truth" anymore? Is there a single, universal truth that exists independent of us—or do we all have access to different interpretations of reality? Is it permissible for a person's "truth" to coexist in validity with another person's contradictory truth if that person's truth provides them meaning or serves a moral purpose?
“There is only one thing a philosopher can be relied upon to do, and that is to contradict other philosophers”
– William James
– William James
- By Eckhart Aurelius Hughes
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