Neil Postman on Truth

Postman claims repeatedly that he is not a relativist. Well, perhaps his later chapters will prove him not to be. But these sound deliciously close.

"We must not be too hasty in mocking Aristotle's prejudices [in favor of deductive reasoning]. We have enough of our own, as for example the equation we moderns make of truth and quantification. In this prejudice, we come astonishingly close to the mystical beliefs of Pythagoras and his followers who attempted to submit all of life to the sovereignty of numbers" (23).


"Truth, like time itself, is a product of a conversation man has with himself about and through the techniques of communication he has invented" (24).


Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. New York: Penguin, 1985.