is the ax I work.
Brother Doe
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| Harry G. Frankfurt author is Bullshit |
In the case of the exploitation of gas shale, representatives of the oil and gas industry, including André Caillé and the Government of Quebec with the Deputy Prime Minister Nathalie Normandeau, do not wish in any way a moratorium on gas exploitation to end the schism on the subject. The government and André Caillé simply wish to continue the operation already in progress of shale gas. They do not want to know the truth about it. Their defense of the gas industry is a prime example of what the American philosopher, Harry G. Frankfurt has described as "bullshit" ( bullshit). The Quebec government and the gas industry does not care about the truth or even the hide. This is not their intent. In this sense, this is not so much liars as talkers ( bullshitters ). Let us not condemn Nathalie Normandeau and André Caillé of liars because they are very sincere in their belief. Their intention is not to lie, to say the false; very sincere, they want ; remove all obstacles hindering the development of industry Gas shale development is presented as a moving train that can not stop. It is true that the development of this industry to the wind in its sails. The Charest government and curd does not lie in this regard. They bluff, however, leaving us to believe that since this is so, namely that the process of gas exploration is running at great speed, it is perfectly absurd to stop in its tracks.
The debate we have in Quebec about the exploitation of shale gas would, according to Frankfurt the tip of the iceberg hinting culture "liberal" of the pitch where the sincerity has dethroned the truth. In a sensational trial The art of bullshitting ( is Bullshit) Frankfurt due to this reversal of values:
The contemporary proliferation of bullshit (bullshit ) sources has even deeper into the various forms of skepticism which deny any possibility of access to an objective reality and therefore know the true nature things. These doctrines "antirealist" undermine our confidence in the value of disinterested efforts to distinguish truth from falsehood, and even in the intelligibility of the notion of objective inquiry. This loss of confidence has resulted in abandonment of the discipline necessary for anyone wishing to devote themselves to the ideal of correctness in favor of a different sort of discipline: one that requires the ideal alternative sincerity. Instead of trying to achieve an accurate representation of the world, the individual tries to give an honest representation of himself. Convinced that reality has no inherent nature, he might hope to identify as the true essence of things, it tries to be faithful to his own nature. It is as if the assumption that being faithful to reality makes no sense, he decided to try to be faithful to himself ... Sincerity, therefore, it's bullshit ( bullshit). (1)
The pitch ensures Frankfurt, is distinct from a simple lie. The fast-talking ( bullshitter ) does not seek so much to say false, although it does not true. In fact, the pitch is a special kind of lie, even if not strictly speaking a lie and in good shape. As noted earlier, the Quebec government and André Caillé do not care to tell the truth, but they do not lie either.
What then is the difference between liar and baratineur ? A little later in his famous essay, Frankfurt distinguishes between the liar (liar ) and the fast-talking ( bullshitter ):
... the liar hides its maneuvers to prevent us from correctly understanding the reality that we must ignore it tries to sell us the information he considers to be false. Instead, the fast-talking conceals the fact that it attaches little importance to the veracity of his statements: we can not guess that his aim does not consist in telling the truth or to hide them. (2)
serious look at an example of bullshit that made international news a few years ago already. Strictly speaking, when George W. Bush said Saddam Hussein was producing weapons of mass destruction, he was not lying, but he pitch (or disconnected). His goal was not to hide the truth, it was not a liar, and his goal was to invade Iraq, that it holds or not weapons of mass destruction. We now know that Iraq did not possess such weapons. The Bush administration has countered that later, anyway, America had to invade Iraq in order to oust dictator and establish democracy. Bush was sincere from his crusade against Iraq, he believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. However, he lacked formal proof, unmistakable in this chapter that mattered to him more or less. Bush used this pretext to invade Iraq. From the analysis of Frankfurt, we should say that the president of the United States messing certainly, but not lying .
Frankfurt notes among other things the sales pitch is based on bluff or fake. Bush bluffed from some thin evidence suggesting that he had reason to want to invade Iraq. It will be recalled that the February 5, 2003, before the Security Council of the UN, Colin Powell, then Secretary of State of the United States, gave evidence very controversial about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It expresses two years later his bitterness interviewed on ABC, he explained that this provision, largely based on falsehoods, now tainted his career. If Colin Powell lied, Bush is on his side or messing spiel. In sum, Powell has won all the odium of bullshit from his boss. When confronted with the fast-talking the truth, his mask falls and simple fast-talking, he becomes a liar.
Let A final example of bullshit. Consider the slogan of the Canadian Tire store " For days like today . Advertising does not lie, because you must hear "today" as any day, any day of the week, it's always good to eat after all. Advertising has obviously a fake but not the intention to lie or to hide the truth. The intent of the slogan is to make us believe that it is always the appointed time for eating, whereas if the consumer has some hesitation in this regard, since they must be dissipated so stellar configuration is currently conducive to shopping.
This culture of bullshit, omnipresent, is part of sincerity which became, in our liberal societies, the heir to the default truth. Liberal society does not grow as the lie that bullshit. Grandiloquent and bombastic speeches praising the human rights, the primacy of the individual against the community, tolerance, respect for self and others, etc.. Represent the current liberal claptrap.
May I be allowed to mention another example of liberal claptrap, that the new course Ethics and Religious Culture (RCT), in place since September 2008. It has not, in fact, best example illustrating the pitch of the liberal culture that shines through in his resignation before the truth and whose trademark is a concern for sincerity inversely immodest.
Out of respect for self and others, the truth and that his research program are excluded from RCTs. What we do in this research program is to help students identify their values and beliefs and to recognize those of others. In sum, students must comply while respecting others, the challenge is that we can in this way ensuring the common good, living together, peaceful coexistence. Not well living together and the happiness that accompanies it, since happiness is the private matter of each. However, this central objective of ECR is based on the central premise of liberal sincerity towards himself, his values and beliefs , the truth being excluded from the process. What matters in the end, is sincerity, membership, loyalty to the man or woman that you are. It is virtually the Know thyself Socratic discharged from the grueling test of truth. The only requirement is that the man or woman that one is in all sincerity and authenticity must respect what the others are. That's where the liberal ideal of sincerity plays a central role. However, as we do not pass through the test of truth, the rest of the liberal ideal pitch.
André Caillé and Nathalie Normandeau have the right to believe in sincerely development of shale gas industry, as citizens have the right to think sincerely that this industry is against the values of safety of people and respect the environment. That is the liberal ideal of sincerity at work. But without a moratorium on the issue of exploration of shale gas, this whole debate is just pure liberal claptrap.
If, as Frankfurt writes, "the baratineur conceals the fact that he gives little weight to the veracity of his statements: we do must not guess that his aim does not consist in telling the truth nor to conceal ", the fast-talking liberal, responsible, believed to possess the truth, while being silent about it. To my knowledge this is the pitch most sordid and most dangerous of all.
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Notes
(1) Harry G. Frankfurt The art of bullshitting , 10/18, p. 73-75. Originally published in the journal Raritan in 1986, the trial was repeated later in an anthology of philosophical essays by the author entitled, The Importance of What We Care About (Cambridge University Press, 1988). Then, under the instigation of the editor, the text in a book published only in paperback in 2005. A French translation was initiated immediately under the title The art of bullshitting and was published by Editions 10/18 a year later.
(2) Ibid., P. 64-65.
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