Benjamin Cain
2 min readOct 19, 2022

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Well, that's what pragmatism is liable to do, mix ethics with epistemology, so that's more of a description than an objection. The question is whether "What is truth?" can be answered without appealing to practices and without resorting to magic or nonsense.

I haven't read Husserl much. I understand he's difficult to read. But I talk about similar problems in different terms. He brings a kind of positivism to bear, with his talk of philosophy as a science. I take the Kantian point about the inevitability of subjectivity in knowledge, in pragmatic, existential, and cosmicist directions. So I like how Husserl ponders the ultimate role of consciousness in the universe, but I don't know if the institution of science has much to do with it. I have a more limited view of science as systematic objectification, so that science ends up re-enchanting nature (by discovering the zombie-like bruteness of physical relations) and leading ironically to pantheism.

I find that irony is a great sign of higher truth. The more we emerge in discourse as absurd playthings, the closer we are to our existential predicament.

As for the subjectivity of knowledge, you might want to have a look at my recent article on understanding (top link). I list some of my other pragmatic epistemological articles below, too.

https://medium.com/original-philosophy/how-understanding-the-facts-makes-all-knowledge-partly-subjective-bda98e29f990?sk=387e9e50b01927fbaae66014e5ed731a

https://medium.com/original-philosophy/we-know-were-telling-tall-tales-because-our-mouth-is-moving-3911d78a5079?sk=b43b6a68ff17c6dbf7280f66f24163e2

https://medium.com/the-apeiron-blog/atheism-and-the-endlessness-of-explanation-22e72f89d509?source=friends_link&sk=cdc78c5a20c7678da120f27b2fbd897b

https://medium.com/grim-tidings/is-the-search-for-truth-a-game-7e72fb11f4e1?sk=325eeea9180d8967bd04a9ab663d5f7c

https://medium.com/the-apeiron-blog/what-is-the-nature-of-ultimate-knowledge-664642cf8147?sk=73f128be23b11ea1e09a8c3e83db51ed

https://medium.com/interfaith-now/beyond-the-fast-food-conception-of-ultimate-knowledge-227d8d43ad0f?sk=d29bd4319b9f775b4e67a28c104c6b31

https://medium.com/the-philosophers-stone/transhuman-epistemology-knowledge-in-the-greater-scheme-78d68bdc6704?sk=e47050735c56aeda7ec12647bbc090b3

https://medium.com/grim-tidings/what-happens-after-philosophy-eats-its-tail-a9421b7c1f9b?sk=8e0dada2542fa50988d825ac236b536b

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Benjamin Cain
Benjamin Cain

Written by Benjamin Cain

Ph.D. in philosophy / Knowledge condemns. Art redeems. / https://benjamincain.substack.com / https://ko-fi.com/benjamincain / benjamincain8@gmailDOTcom

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