Comments | poovanna: Bullshit

poovanna

Bullshit

Aug 18, 2010 00:49

A book on bullshit?!

When I heard that there was a Philosophy book about bullshit, my first reaction was to groan & think it as yet another example of philosophical navel-gazing.

However, I was intrigued when I learned that it was written by Harry Frankfurt. This is because I know him to be a level headed fellow, compared to other philosophers. ( Read more... )

Comments 4

hardblue August 17 2010, 19:31:40 UTC

In the interest of the integrity of serious philosophy, it seems hazardous to take this Bullshit Theory into politics, seeing how demogoguery is such an integral part of democratic discourse, where leaders play on our fears and prejudices, so that politics is as much about theater as it is a philosophical quest for truth, and, moreoever, we are at risk of just designating those on the other side of the issues as being bullshit artists ( ... )

2 ways to defeat bullshit poovanna August 20 2010, 18:06:44 UTC

I do agree with you that democracies tend to be happy hunting grounds for demagogues.

There is indeed a positive correlation between democracy & the level of bullshit. This is because when a government takes a decision on complex issues like, say, the economy/health care/security whatever, it has to also take into account the opinions of a mostly stupid public - as opposed to only the knowledgable experts of that field ( ... )

The WMD argument poovanna August 20 2010, 18:23:31 UTC

before the invasion, the WMD argument was more open than is otherwise suggested by the idea that it was straight-out bullshit.

Hmmm...You may have a point. This is because I wasn't in the US @ the time when Bush/Cheney initially made their case for war & so, I wasn't affected by your country's news-media as much.

For media in India (& most of the world), the WMD charge was straight-up bullshit that could be smelt a mile away. It makes sense that Bush/Cheney devoted their news manipulation efforts to mainly the US, because they primarily required the approval of the American public, rather than the rest of the world, in order to wage war.

Detect BS ext_204489 September 6 2010, 16:09:00 UTC

http://www.scottberkun.com/essays/53-how-to-detect-bullshit/