Matt Yglesias

30 Responses to “100% True?”

1. Clark Says:
   October 2nd, 2008 at 1:59 pm

   Even in the event you don’t believe Richard Rorty, believing that a politician tells the “100% absolute truth” all the time is a pretty hard pill to swallow for any American.

2. Richard Rorty Says:
   October 2nd, 2008 at 2:00 pm

   “The difference between people and ideas is … only superficial.”

3. Ross Douthat's Hair Says:
   October 2nd, 2008 at 2:02 pm

   Also: “Truth is simply a compliment paid to sentences seen to be paying their way.”

4. howard Says:
   October 2nd, 2008 at 2:08 pm

   when your self-image and your reality don’t match up, you can either come to terms with your reality or you can go through enormous psychological contortions to maintain your existing self-image.

   we can see which path mccain has chosen.

5. Jeffrey Davis Says:
   October 2nd, 2008 at 2:09 pm

   Even in the event you don’t believe Richard Rorty, believing that a politician tells the “100% absolute truth” all the time is a pretty hard pill to swallow for any American.

   Saying that you believe them is, however, the price of admission to certain positions in the punditocracy.

6. aleks Says:
   October 2nd, 2008 at 2:13 pm

   But some truths are truer than others.

7. dizzyg Says:
   October 2nd, 2008 at 3:07 pm

   So, it’s false that there is no such thing as absolute truth?

8. JohnH Says:
   October 2nd, 2008 at 3:33 pm

   Surely anyone who considered irony such a virtue would have welcomed McCain and Palin into politics.

9. peep Says:
   October 2nd, 2008 at 3:40 pm

   At times I think there are no words
   But these to tell what’s true
   And there are no truths outside the Gates of Eden

10. Wrathful Grape Says:
    October 2nd, 2008 at 4:15 pm

    It’s obvious that John McCain was trying to say that his campaign always deals in 100% truthiness. Why must you take everything he says literallly? You need to understand what he’s trying to say and articulate it for him. Why is reality in the tank for Obama? To quote John McCain’s phrase that he coined many a year ago, “life’s not fair.”

11. Michael Says:
    October 2nd, 2008 at 5:15 pm

    Sorry to be a d@#k for a moment, and I get the irony, but it’s misleading to say that Rorty doesn’t believe in ‘absolute truth.’ ‘Truth’ is a predicate that we apply to some sentences. ‘It is raining’ becomes ‘It’s true that it is raining.’ Rorty’s point is that this predicate explains nothing and adds nothing–nothing at least beyond the assertional force already implicit in any claim. To suggest that Rorty doesn’t believe in absolute truth can be taken to mean that he believes in relative truth; but he doesn’t believe in truth at all, relative OR absolute. He does believe however that some statements are more correct than others, so Rorty would have been perfectly fine with saying, ‘McCain’s statements are absolutely incorrect and unjustified,’ and also with, ‘McCain lies.’

12. Nathan Says:
    October 2nd, 2008 at 5:24 pm

    leaving aside Matt’s passé freshman relativism, Rorty said no such thing. He didn’t dispute the existence of (absolute) truth, rather, he argued that it couldn’t be talked about in a meaningful way. Which isn’t the same thing at all.

13. jdw Says:
    October 2nd, 2008 at 5:43 pm

    Barack Obama is guilty, too. He falsely accused McCain of wanting to slice Social Security benefits in half and grossly exaggerated his role in writing this year’s economic stimulus plan. He also promised to accept public financing — and then proceeded to opt out when it was clear he could raise more money on his own.

    I love how that one continues to be spun. Does the author even go back to look at the “promise”?

    John

14. Matthew Sweet Says:
    October 3rd, 2008 at 9:55 am

    Here at this blog we do, however, follow me and believe in 100% Fun.

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