Truth Matters

Two leading public intellectuals and dear friends—one progressive, one conservative—explore What is Truth? and Why Does Truth Matter?

In Truth Matters, Cornel West and Robert P. George address a range of social issues on which Americans today are bitterly divided. Their book models robust intellectual engagement and civil discourse as they explore vital questions surrounding the idea of truth and its foundational role in our lives. Along the way, they reflect on social conditions—such as respect for freedom of speech—that must be established and maintained if truth is to be seriously pursued. They also explore the virtues—such as intellectual humility and courage—that must be acquired and practiced if we frail, fallible, fallen human beings are to be determined truth seekers and bold truth speakers.

Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He has served as Chairman of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom and on the US Commission on Civil Rights and the US President’s Council on Bioethics. He has also been the US member of UNESCO’s World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology. He was a Judicial Fellow at the US Supreme Court, where he received the Justice Tom C. Clark Award. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Swarthmore, he holds the degrees of JD and MTS from Harvard University and the degrees of DPhil, BCL, DCL, and DLitt from Oxford University. He is a recipient of the US Presidential Citizens Medal and the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton University. He is of counsel to the law firm of Robinson & McElwee and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Cornel West is the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice at Union Theological Seminary. He is also Class of 1943 Professor of African American Studies Emeritus at Princeton University. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College and obtained his MA and PhD in philosophy at Princeton. Professor West is best known for his classics Race Matters and Democracy Matters. His memoir is entitled Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud. He made his film debut in the Matrix—and was the commentator (with Ken Wilber) on the official trilogy released in 2004. He has made several spoken word albums including Never Forget, collaborating with Prince, Jill Scott, André 3000, Bootsy Collins, and others. In 2021, he won a Grammy Award along with Arturo O’Farrill for the year’s best Latin jazz album. Professor West has a passion to share and keep alive the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.—a legacy of telling the truth and bearing witness to love and justice.