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Bob's Truth
Stephanie Nelson (NELSON@USCVM.BITNET)
Wed, 15 Dec 1993 08:37:41 PST
Yipes! Bob's definition of truth as "...a quality we attribute to certain
propositions" sounds dangerously like Rorty's statement that "truth is a
compliment we pay to sentences that we like." Perhaps all that is missing is
the element of motive, which may be the core of the epistemological debate.
Bob, you're groaning now, I'm sure, but would you agree that there are (at
least) two worthy projects in anthropology: (1) investigation of "scientific
facts" and (2) investigation of how knowledge claims are made within the
discipline? The latter is certainly Geertz's project, and that of many we've
called "postmodern." And I think of the feminist anthropological project as
investigation of WHY certain knowledge claims are made. Anyway, it seems to
me that these are all worthy questions, and I don't understand why we have to
argue for the ascendency of one over the other, as we seem to be doing here.
Different strokes for different folks, as Sly Stone would say. Stephanie
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