… and it infects many people on the Left, often via the intellectual poison of Postmodernism. There is a simple antidote to this nonsense: if you do not believe objective empirical truth exists, then how can you ever say or imply that neoclassical or Austrian economic theories are objectively false? Or if that does not get through, try this: is it not an objective historical truth that the Holocaust happened? And if you still deny it is an objective empirical truth, then why do you think it happened? Doesn’t the belief that it did happen commit you to accepting an objective reality in the past, and the view we can objectively describe that real event in a true sentence? (in other words, an objective truth?).The reality is, quite simply, that the pursuit of objective empirical truths about the world is the foundation of all human sciences and knowledge, and if you are not engaged in the search for truth but claim to be engaged in some kind of science (whether in the natural or social sciences), you are an intellectual charlatan, a fool and a fraud. Further reading here:“The Consequences of Postmodernist Truth Relativism,” October 25, 2015.“Foucault’s Truth Relativism,” March 25, 2015.“A Challenge to Truth Relativists,” March 20, 2015.“Foucault’s View of Truth,” February 18, 2015.“John Searle’s Argument for Objective Truth,” February 14, 2015.
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Lord Keynes considers the following as important: Truth Relativism is a Disease of the Mind
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There is a simple antidote to this nonsense: if you do not believe objective empirical truth exists, then how can you ever say or imply that neoclassical or Austrian economic theories are objectively false?
Or if that does not get through, try this: is it not an objective historical truth that the Holocaust happened?
And if you still deny it is an objective empirical truth, then why do you think it happened? Doesn’t the belief that it did happen commit you to accepting an objective reality in the past, and the view we can objectively describe that real event in a true sentence? (in other words, an objective truth?).
The reality is, quite simply, that the pursuit of objective empirical truths about the world is the foundation of all human sciences and knowledge, and if you are not engaged in the search for truth but claim to be engaged in some kind of science (whether in the natural or social sciences), you are an intellectual charlatan, a fool and a fraud.
Further reading here:
“The Consequences of Postmodernist Truth Relativism,” October 25, 2015.“Foucault’s Truth Relativism,” March 25, 2015.
“A Challenge to Truth Relativists,” March 20, 2015.
“Foucault’s View of Truth,” February 18, 2015.
“John Searle’s Argument for Objective Truth,” February 14, 2015.