UC Irvine

What does it mean for truth to be a fundamental value? The chapter outlines a way of unpacking this idea that doesn’t collapse under the weight of implausible implications, including the following: that one should value all truths equally (i.e., no matter how trivial that truth might be), that one should prefer truth to knowledge or understanding, that the value of truth should trump all other considerations (including practical, ethical, aesthetic, and so on), and that there cannot be truths that one is unable to accept or otherwise fully embrace. The discussion proceeds by way of reflections on, inter alia, Nietzsche’s claim that the truth is terrible and Wittgenstein’s contention that all rational evaluation presupposes an overarching groundless certainty.