Simon Blackburn est un philosophe universitaire anglais connu pour ses travaux en métaéthique, où il défend le quasi-réalisme, et en philosophie du langage ; plus récemment, il a gagné une large audience générale grâce à ses efforts de vulgarisation de la philosophie.
Il a pris sa retraite en tant que professeur de philosophie à l'Université de Cambridge en 2011, mais reste un éminent professeur de recherche en philosophie à l'Université de Caroline du Nord à Chapel Hill, enseignant chaque semestre d'automne. Il est également membre du Trinity College de Cambridge et membre du corps professoral du New College of the Humanities. Il était auparavant membre du Pembroke College d'Oxford et a également enseigné à plein temps à l'Université de Caroline du Nord en tant que professeur Edna J. Koury. Il est un ancien président de la Société aristotélicienne, ayant servi le mandat 2009-2010. Il a été élu membre de la British Academy en 2002 et membre honoraire étranger de l'American Academy of Arts & Sciences en 2008.
Truth: A Guide pdf par Simon Blackburn
The author of the highly popular book Think, which Time magazine hailed as "the one book every smart person should read to understand, and even enjoy, the key questions of philosophy," Simon Blackburn is that rara avis--an eminent thinker who is able to explain philosophy to the general reader. Now Blackburn offers a tour de force exploration of what he calls "the most exciting and engaging issue in the whole of philosophy"--the age-old war over truth. The front lines of this war are well defined. On one side are those who believe in plain, unvarnished facts, rock-solid truths that can be found through reason and objectivity--that science leads to truth, for instance. Their opponents mock this idea. They see the dark forces of language, culture, power, gender, class, ideology and desire--all subverting our perceptions of the world, and clouding our judgement with false notions of absolute truth. Beginning with an early skirmish in the war--when Socrates confronted the sophists in ancient Athens--Blackburn offers a penetrating look at the longstanding battle these two groups have waged, examining the philosophical battles fought by Plato, Protagoras, William James, David Hume, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Richard Rorty, and many others, with a particularly fascinating look at Nietzsche. Among the questions Blackburn considers are: is science mere opinion, can historians understand another historical period, and indeed can one culture ever truly understand another. Blackburn concludes that both sides have merit, and that neither has exclusive ownership of truth. What is important is that, whichever side we embrace, we should know where we stand and what is to be said for our opponents.