There
are more things in heaven and earth… than are dreamt of in our philosophy.  Hamlet
(to Horatio, Act I, v)

In the first
chapter of True to Life: Why Truth Matters, Michael P. Lynch offers the
following observation: 

If I know anything, it is that I
don’t know everything and neither does anyone else. There are some things we
just won’t ever know, and there are other things that we think we know but we
don’t. Grant this bit of common sense, and you are committed to the first thing
about truth: truth is objective.

With this
thought-provoking revisitation of the essential discursive dynamics of truth,
Lynch leads the reader on a journey around the outer edges of the parameters of
truth-claims. In these post-Modern (or postmodern, or postmodernist) times when
the intentional nonacceptance of truth-claims has become a near-religious
mandate across the academic and pop culture spectra, it is refreshing to be
reminded of the essence, purpose and practicality of proposition, support,
warrant and reasoning.

True to Life
is organized into three parts. First, myths about truth proper, including
common questions regarding the attainability, relativity, and inherent goodness
of truth, are addressed. Second, popular criticisms of truth as a means to and
end, truth within fields of science, and truth as fiction – many of which have
themselves been reduced to worn-out clich̩s Рare analyzed honestly and
rigorously. Third, the importance and significance of large and small
truth-claims, from religion to politics to etiquette, are considered. Of the
three parts, the first is most critical, and perhaps needed mostly within
Western culture today.

Lynch is not an
absolutist. Neither is he a relativist. If I had to find a slot for this work,
I would probably call it neo-pragmatist, except that that moniker has too often
been conflated into radical skepticism or relativism. And so I would simply
identify this text as a well written survey of analytical philosophy, with an
underlying theme that encourages the reader to make use – even if temporary use
– of those propositions that are supported with sufficient evidence,
specificity and certainty so as to make them credible and functional. And to
critique (but not necessarily reject out of hand) those propositions that are
not so supported.

There are many
books on "critical thinking," analytical reasoning, and logic
(formal, informal, symbolic, etc.) available today. Many of them are themselves
a collection of aphorisms or truisms about propositions, deduction, induction,
and fallacies. Most of them are dull and uninteresting. This work is engaging,
irritating, and encouraging. It has all of the qualities that might be
attributed to the term "thought-provoking." This text is accessible
to, and would serve well (among many others): the casual reader, the journalist,
the jurist, the manager of an organization, the undergraduate student, or the
doctoral candidate.

© 2005 Albert D. Spalding
 

Albert D. Spalding, JD, is an associate professor at Wayne State University School of Business
Administration.  He teaches legal studies and ethics.

Categories: Philosophical