Truth and the War on Error
Prof Huw Price (Cambridge University)

October 30, 2013, 6:30pm - 8:30pm
University of Hertfordshire

de Havilland Campus
University of Hertfordshire
Hatfield AL10 9EU
United Kingdom

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This annual public lecture will be delivered by Professor Huw Price, Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy and a Fellow of Trinity College at the University of Cambridge

Wednesday 30 October 2013, 18:30 for 19:00, de Havilland Campus, University of Hertfordshire, AL10 9EU

Synopsis - Truth and the War on Error

The Culture Wars have given way to the Truth Wars, but this is just a new name for an ancient conflict.  From Plato to Nagel, Protagoras to Rorty, philosophy's two great families have been feuding over the same patch of muddied ground for a hundred generations.  Absolutists versus relativists, realists versus idealists, platonists versus pragmatists: the slogans swing to and fro, but both sides are well-entrenched, and the frontlines rarely move.

In this talk Huw Price introduces this conflict through the eyes of his Cambridge predecessor, Simon Blackburn, whose book Truth: A Guide for the Perplexed offers an engaging mix of embedded journalism and irenic road-mapping.  However, Price argues that Blackburn's peace plan has a fatal flaw.  He offers an alternative peace proposal, which has the advantage of being sufficiently even-handed to be rejected by both sides.

Further information and booking

This is a free public lecture but please book your place in advance by contacting the Events Team [email protected] +44 (0)1707 284121

More information about upcoming University events can be found on our website http://www.go.herts.ac.uk/eventslisting 

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