Combining Texts

Ideas for '04: Gospel of St John', 'Moral Luck' and 'works'

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3 ideas

3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 2. Defining Truth
Jesus said he bore witness to the truth. Pilate asked, What is truth? [John]
     Full Idea: Jesus: I came into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?
     From: St John (04: Gospel of St John [c.95], 18:37-8)
     A reaction: There is very little explicit discussion of truth in philosophy before this exchange (apart from Ideas 251 and 586), and there isn't any real debate prior to Russell and the pragmatists. What was Pilate's tone? Did he spit at the end of his question?
3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 9. Rejecting Truth
Derrida says that all truth-talk is merely metaphor [Derrida, by Engel]
     Full Idea: Derrida's view is that every discourse is metaphorical, and there is no difference between truth-talk and metaphor.
     From: report of Jacques Derrida (works [1990]) by Pascal Engel - Truth §2.5
     A reaction: Right. Note that this is a Frenchman's summary. How would one define metaphor, without mentioning that it is parasitic on truth? Certainly some language tries to be metaphor, and other language tries not to be.
True thoughts are inaccessible, in the subconscious, prior to speech or writing [Derrida]
     Full Idea: 'True' thoughts are inaccessible, buried in the subconscious, long before they get to speech or writing.
     From: Jacques Derrida (works [1990]), quoted by Barry Stocker - Derrida on Deconstruction
     A reaction: [My reading of some Derrida produced no quotations. I've read two commentaries, which were obscure. The Derrida ideas in this db are my simplistic tertiary summaries. Experts can chuckle over my failure]