The Truth about the Truth: De-confusing and Re-constructing the Postmodern World

by Walter Truett Anderson (Editor)

Includes essays and excerpts from the works of prominent modern thinkers such as Umberto Eco, Jacques Derrida, and Isaiah Berlin among others.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Psychology, Essays

272 pages, Paperback

First published August 30, 1995

About the author

Walter Truett Anderson is a political scientist, social psychologist, and author of numerous non-fiction books and articles in newspapers and magazines.

In his public lectures, he frequently speculates that, if we had a history of every advanced species in the universe, we would find that they all had to pass through two large, difficult and unavoidable transitions: (1) accepting conscious responsibility for the future of all life on their planets; and (2) recognizing that their systems of symbolic communication – such as language and mathematics – don’t merely describe reality, but participate in creating it.

Most of his major writing efforts have engaged one or both of these evolutionary themes. His defining statement on the first was To Govern Evolution: Further Adventures of the Political Animal. Its vision of human impacts on Earth’s life systems had been foreshadowed in his earlier book on American natural history, A Place of Power: The American Episode in Human Evolution, and was further developed in Evolution Isn’t What It Used To Be and All Connected Now. He is now at work on a new book that explores the evolutionary challenges and frontiers of the 21st century.

His major statements on the second (constructivist) theme were Reality Isn’t What It Used to Be and the subsequent anthology The Truth About the Truth. In other books on related subjects, The Future of the Self described changing ways that people are constructing personal identities in contemporary global society, and The Next Enlightenment points out the similarities between Western constructivist thought and Eastern spiritual traditions such as Buddhism.

He is currently President Emeritus of the World Academy of Art and Science (having served as president 2000-2008); a founding Fellow of the Meridian International Institute; a Fellow of the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute (LaJolla, CA); and a Distinguished Consulting Faculty member of Saybrook University in San Francisco.

Reviews

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great reader for anyone interested in postmodernist thought. The editor did a good job of picking representative texts from many of the important postmodernist writers, as well as a few critics. A couple of the essays helped me understand where I fit within postmodernism, as well as articulating where I have disconnects with postmodernism. It certainly de-confused and re-constructed my postmodern world -- as the subtitle promised.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Does a nice job of showcasing variety and conflict within postmodern writing and the world at large. If you are new to the subject as a philosophy but have dedicated time outside of academia to observing and seeking to understand human social behavior around you, you'll find a fascinating body of writing that echoes your experience here. Anderson gives clear, cohesive, and self-aware commentary, and his dedication to choosing readings that speak to one another is evident.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the anthology to takes the esoteric concepts marketed under the "POMO" brand and shatters them into the fragments of thought that demonstrate the validity of pluralusm. Essays range from lofty and obtuse (Derrida) to humbly self-depricating, with the best preface to date.

[Atoosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do recommend this book. When I started, I was just interested in knowing what this postmodern world exactly is described in words. When I finished it, I felt I read a book about many sort of the challenges I am dealing with since 5-6 years ago.

[Cristian Gutierrez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Made me realize that philosophy is not for me but did so in a simply and digestible manner. Topics which before seemed to be overly complicated were boiled down into simple topics.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of essays about postmodernism and serves as a good introduction to it's major themes and implications.

[Lisa Sellers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love this book - it still speaks today - if our current theology ways are confusing this book helps to present many essays that explore the why of it - very comforting.

[Kitap]

"The quest for universal understanding—and the work of creating a global culture—goes on. What's happening now is in many ways similar to what happened a few centuries ago when people were exploring the planet: They kept discovering they lived in a wider world and re-drawing their maps. The world that had once been flat became round, and then it became larger, and old worldviews were discarded regularly."