Beyond Bullshit: Donald Trump’s Philosophy of Language

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Philosophy Now
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Beyond Bullshit: Donald Trump’s Philosophy of Language

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Chris Gavaler and Nathaniel Goldberg analyze Trump’s mode of communication.

https://philosophynow.org/issues/121/Beyond_Bullshit_Donald_Trumps_Philosophy_of_Language
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Immanuel Can
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Re: Beyond Bullshit: Donald Trump’s Philosophy of Language

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The real BS is saying we hate Trump, when the truth is that we love him. After all, we created him...us, and the media. And now we lavish all our attention on him every day. So why are we complaining? He's the politician we deserve.

He's a celebrity with no substance; a chameleon and manipulator who moves through our phony environment with the graceful ease of a shark through water. He's as moral as Clinton, and bright as Bush, as substantial as Obama, and as profound as Twitter. He's everything an entertainment-mad culture really longs for in a politician. He is the ideal Postmodern political animal.

We recoil in horror over his amorality, but then profess our disbelief in the existence of (any actual) morals ourselves. We complain he's repeatedly violated his duty to be truthful, but then say there's no thing as (objective) truth anyway.

Sounds like BS to me.
davidm
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Re: Beyond Bullshit: Donald Trump’s Philosophy of Language

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Immanuel Can wrote: Tue Aug 01, 2017 11:47 pm The real BS is saying we hate Trump, when the truth is that we love him. After all, we created him...us, and the media. And now we lavish all our attention on him every day. So why are we complaining? He's the politician we deserve.

He's a celebrity with no substance; a chameleon and manipulator who moves through our phony environment with the graceful ease of a shark through water. He's as moral as Clinton, and bright as Bush, as substantial as Obama, and as profound as Twitter. He's everything an entertainment-mad culture really longs for in a politician. He is the ideal Postmodern political animal.

We recoil in horror over his amorality, but then profess our disbelief in the existence of (any actual) morals ourselves. We complain he's repeatedly violated his duty to be truthful, but then say there's no thing as (objective) truth anyway.

Sounds like BS to me.
Yes, and the evangelical Christians just love him to bits! Hell, they not only voted for him en masse, they recently prayed with him in the Oval Office! :lol:
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Immanuel Can
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Re: Beyond Bullshit: Donald Trump’s Philosophy of Language

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davidm wrote: Thu Aug 03, 2017 6:05 am Yes, and the evangelical Christians just love him to bits! Hell, they not only voted for him en masse, they recently prayed with him in the Oval Office!
Every American president in history has had that, including the last one. And the monarchs of England are nominally head of the Anglican Church, and the Pope makes Roman Emperors. But so what? Ceremony is just ceremony. It means nothing at all.
thedoc
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Re: Beyond Bullshit: Donald Trump’s Philosophy of Language

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Immanuel Can wrote: Thu Aug 03, 2017 4:59 pm Ceremony is just ceremony. It means nothing at all.
Ceremony means whatever the individual lets it mean, to some it is nothing, to others it is everything, and still others let it mean something in between.
thedoc
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Re: Beyond Bullshit: Donald Trump’s Philosophy of Language

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To an outsider, every Christian (and probably every other religious person) is an Idolater, they bow down and appear to worship a graven image.
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Immanuel Can
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Re: Beyond Bullshit: Donald Trump’s Philosophy of Language

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thedoc wrote: Thu Aug 03, 2017 5:18 pm
Immanuel Can wrote: Thu Aug 03, 2017 4:59 pm Ceremony is just ceremony. It means nothing at all.
Ceremony means whatever the individual lets it mean, to some it is nothing, to others it is everything, and still others let it mean something in between.
I mean that ceremony is only ever a symbol. It has no intrinsic value at all. Only an instrumental one.

Some people feel more comfortable with X ceremony, and others find it meaningless. But neither way does it confer merit or wisdom or goodness on anybody. It's just an option, for those who like that sort of thing.

Take, for example, the marriage ceremony. The Bible has none. That would be surprising, if a particular ceremony were as important as we tend to act like it is. But it's not. What's important is only that marriages happen, and that they endure. Install any cultural baggage or ceremony around them you like: but Biblically speaking, the only concern is that marriages themselves remain and endure, in the form given by God. Weddings...not so much.

There are but two ceremonies given to Christians in the Bible, both exceedingly simple: baptism and "communion." No more. So beyond those, ceremony is a mere human option, and can be conducted or not in any way, even if the realities we intend to reflect by those ceremonies remain important.

As wedding traditions are to marriages, so are ceremonies to realities.
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