This episode applies the distinction between personal and shared inquiry—developed in the previous episodes—to philosophical inquiry, arguing that philosophy is a personal affair. It sketches a picture of doing philosophy as the activity of creating an equilibrium of philosophical ideas based on personal nodes that are best described as a kind of intellectual tastes. This picture is shown to be superior to the naturalist picture of philosophy—according to which philosophy is a scientific inquiry—because it can explain why philosophers could rationally believe their theories in the face of systemic peer disagreement and why there can be a sense of philosophical progress in spite of such disagreement.
Is truth plural? And what does it mean to say that truth is plural? In this episode, I interview the inventor of truth pluralism, Crispin Wright. We’ll talk about how his views have changed since the publication of his book Truth & Objectivity, back in 1992, and how his methodology compares to pragmatism. By the end of the episode, I will have shared my own take on pluralism, as well as my attempt to synthesize the various theories in the literature: deflationism, pluralism, and the correspondence theory. This episode is loosely based on my paper, “Truth and Its Uses: Deflationism and Alethic Pluralism” (2023). You can check it out here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11229-023-04362-5
Tom Kaspers 