PvI#80: Brief, Alternative Facts w/ David Shields

Philosophy vs. Improv

Internationally best-selling author David wrote a book (and made a film) called How We Got Here, which traces the gradual path in the history of ideas from the ancients through various forms of perspectivism, relativism, and post-modernism to the post-truth discourse that authoritarians and wanna-be authoritarians engage in.

David's book is in a very terse style, in line with his overall career emphasis on brevity, so we talk about this choice and how it means in most cases not actually explaining any of the ideas involved much less arguing for his interpretation of them. Instead, a series of quotations and short explanations prompt readers to see the lines of influence themselves. This is not a dismissal of post-modernism due to its deleterious consequences, as he sees the current liberal absolutist reaction (there IS objective truth and morality and Trump and his ilk are ignoring) as foolishly antiquated.

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