On calling Bullshit

I entirely agree with Kieran Setiya the academic and professional philosophical world needs more charity and generosity.

But the world at large, and particularly the political world, is increasingly steeped in the stuff that needs calling out.

What's a philosopher to do?

Maybe spend a little more time attending to the larger world, and a little less to peers?

A little, at least?

It is fun, though, calling out one's peers and predecessors. "Hegelisms" deserve some derision, for instance, though Hegelianism has its place too. [Michael Prowse, My new friend Hegel]

But philosophers will face only one another and not the larger public make themselves irrelevant, and sometimes ridiculous too.

Check out the podcast clip in Kieran's post this morning:

"…the relevant sort of bullshit isn't Harry Frankfurt's, i.e. speech that is indifferent to the truth, but Gerry Cohen's or Gordon Pennycook's, i.e. speech that can't be clarified because it is nonsense masked as meaningful assertion…

We are not nearly charitable enough—and with sufficient generosity, we can make good sense of texts we first found unintelligible, or vacuous, or utterly confused… I'm increasingly uncomfortable calling bullshit." -Kieran Setiya