The contemporary proliferation of bullshit also has deeper sources, in various forms of skepticism which deny that we can have any reliable access to an objective reality and which therefore reject the possibility of knowing how things truly are. These "anti-realist" doctrines undermine confidence in the value of disinterested efforts to determine what is true and what is false, and even in the intelligibility of the notion of objective inquiry. One response to this loss of confidence has been a retreat from the discipline required by dedication to the ideal of correctness to a quite different sort of discipline, which is imposed by pursuit of an alternative ideal of sincerity. Rather than seeking primarily to arrive at accurate representations of a common world, the individual turns toward trying to provide honest representations of himself. Convinced that reality has no inherent nature, which he might hope to identify as the truth about things, he devotes himself to being true to his own nature. It is as though he decides that since it makes no sense to try to be true to the facts, he must therefore try instead to be true to himself.
But it is preposterous to imagine that we ourselves are determinate, and hence susceptible both to correct and to incorrect descriptions, while supposing that the ascription of determinacy to anything else has been exposed as a mistake. As conscious beings, we exist only in response to other things, and we cannot know ourselves at all without knowing them. Moreover, there is nothing in theory, and certainly nothing in experience, to support the extraordinary judgment that it is the truth about himself that is the easiest for a person to know. Facts about ourselves are not peculiarly solid and resistant to skeptical dissolution. Our natures are, indeed, elusively insubstantial -- notoriously less stable and less inherent than the natures of other things. And insofar as this is the case, sincerity itself is bullshit.
Tags: truth honesty reality philosophy bullshit sincerity
Be sincere, Be brief, Be seated.
Franklin D. RooseveltTags: politeness etiquette sincerity brevity
The scientist only imposes two things, namely truth and sincerity, imposes them upon himself and upon other scientists.
Erwin SchrödingerHe who lives without folly is not as wise as he may think.
François de La RochefoucauldBy being natural and sincere, one often can create revolutions without having sought them.
Christian DiorTags: art natural expression revolution creation sincerity
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
John F. KennedyMen are never convinced of your reasons, of your sincerity, of the seriousness of your sufferings, except by your death. So long as you are alive, your case is doubtful; you have a right only to their skepticism.
Albert CamusTags: suffering skepticism sincerity
When pure sincerity forms within, it is outwardly realized in other people's hearts.
Lao TzuTags: sincerity
An ad that pretends to be art is -- at absolute best -- like somebody who smiles warmly at you only because he wants something from you. This is dishonest, but what's sinister is the cumulative effect that such dishonesty has on us: since it offers a perfect facsimile or simulacrum of goodwill without goodwill's real spirit, it messes with our heads and eventually starts upping our defenses even in cases of genuine smiles and real art and true goodwill. It makes us feel confused and lonely and impotent and angry and scared. It causes despair.
David Foster WallaceTags: loneliness sincerity advertisements
Sincerity - if you can fake that, you've got it made.
George BurnsPage 1 of 10.
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