Yeah, I'm sorry about the audio quality. It's really best to have two microphones for an interview. It's also best to turn the microphone gain up! I ended up having to use the audio recorded from my GoPro, which is far from ideal. I wasn't planning on posting to YouTube mainly because it took forever to upload this on Substack, but I'll do it if you'd like. More than happy to.
Well, don’t do it on my account. The auto-captioning can be iffy is the soundtrack isn’t great. Might end up being more frustrating than not. I’ll channel Emily Latella here — “never mind!” 👵🏼
I'm really glad you brought up YouTube. I just uploaded it there and it went SO MUCH FASTER than here on Substack. I think from now on, that's how I'll do it.
Ha ha that sign off, "Oh thank god" is priceless. Now I feel bad for doing my long review and putting Neal back in the hot seat. : )
I'm not sure that McGinn and the other questions are really getting the point of the principle of generosity. To me, it's not that generosity *gives* us truth and understanding of one another. It's that there is (presumably) a single truth out there and so we should generously believe it is possible to understand one another and work together towards that truth. In my review, I have quibbles with T&G's language whenever it says "truth" is reached or guaranteed, but if you just changed that to "currently accepted facts" can be reached, then maybe that wouldn't trip my skeptical alarm bells.
Does that rephrasing resonate at all? I'm not as good at listening to arguments as I am at reading them. With philosophy, I often need the time to read things repeatedly in order to get them.
Oh no! Don't feel bad! He's flattered, really! He didn't think anyone would read his book and is astonished that it's found an audience. So thank you!
You're right that McGinn's criticisms don't really get at the point of the principle of generosity, but I think that's because they were aimed at Davidson's version of the principle (but I could be wrong about that since McGinn doesn't say that explicitly, I don't think, and I don't know what Davidson said). I thought most of McGinn's criticisms were already addressed by the book itself, but I hoped his alien examples would help to underscore those points. It's such a shame that I didn't get to include your questions in the video. Missed the mark by a day or so!
As I was saying in the comments section on another T&G post, the "truth" that's reached or guaranteed is almost entirely empty, or rather, as far as the specific content goes, much of it is left up in the air. What we mean by "truth" is actually less defined than what you're proposing, though I understand why talk of truth rubs people the wrong way and trips off those skeptical alarm bells. There is the tendency to recoil from any whiff of absolutism.
I tried to watch, but my hearing is so bad at this point I really need the CC. Are you planning to post this on your YT channel?
Yeah, I'm sorry about the audio quality. It's really best to have two microphones for an interview. It's also best to turn the microphone gain up! I ended up having to use the audio recorded from my GoPro, which is far from ideal. I wasn't planning on posting to YouTube mainly because it took forever to upload this on Substack, but I'll do it if you'd like. More than happy to.
Well, don’t do it on my account. The auto-captioning can be iffy is the soundtrack isn’t great. Might end up being more frustrating than not. I’ll channel Emily Latella here — “never mind!” 👵🏼
I'm really glad you brought up YouTube. I just uploaded it there and it went SO MUCH FASTER than here on Substack. I think from now on, that's how I'll do it.
Cool, I’ll check it out, thanks!
Ha ha that sign off, "Oh thank god" is priceless. Now I feel bad for doing my long review and putting Neal back in the hot seat. : )
I'm not sure that McGinn and the other questions are really getting the point of the principle of generosity. To me, it's not that generosity *gives* us truth and understanding of one another. It's that there is (presumably) a single truth out there and so we should generously believe it is possible to understand one another and work together towards that truth. In my review, I have quibbles with T&G's language whenever it says "truth" is reached or guaranteed, but if you just changed that to "currently accepted facts" can be reached, then maybe that wouldn't trip my skeptical alarm bells.
Does that rephrasing resonate at all? I'm not as good at listening to arguments as I am at reading them. With philosophy, I often need the time to read things repeatedly in order to get them.
Oh no! Don't feel bad! He's flattered, really! He didn't think anyone would read his book and is astonished that it's found an audience. So thank you!
You're right that McGinn's criticisms don't really get at the point of the principle of generosity, but I think that's because they were aimed at Davidson's version of the principle (but I could be wrong about that since McGinn doesn't say that explicitly, I don't think, and I don't know what Davidson said). I thought most of McGinn's criticisms were already addressed by the book itself, but I hoped his alien examples would help to underscore those points. It's such a shame that I didn't get to include your questions in the video. Missed the mark by a day or so!
As I was saying in the comments section on another T&G post, the "truth" that's reached or guaranteed is almost entirely empty, or rather, as far as the specific content goes, much of it is left up in the air. What we mean by "truth" is actually less defined than what you're proposing, though I understand why talk of truth rubs people the wrong way and trips off those skeptical alarm bells. There is the tendency to recoil from any whiff of absolutism.