Shannon Lee
PHI 105 – Critical Thinking
March 1, 2017
Exam 1
1. Bullshitting is more harmful than the truth and can have long-term effects. The person behind the bullshitting typically doesn’t care about what is true and what is false, he just wants to convince you that he is right. Sometimes, the person doing the bullshitting even starts to believe there own bullshit because they don’t have the insight of what the truth really is anymore. I think these are all important reasons behind why Frankfurt calls relativism bullshit. Relativism is the idea that knowledge or truth only exist in relation to culture or the society your grew up in. To me that means that your knowledge or truth is basically useless if you go somewhere with a different …show more content…
As humans we have been governed for ages. Our thoughts and ideas are subtly thrust upon us from men that lived long before our time. These men directed and formed our habits and opinions to be relatively the same over all the masses. This allowed us to live in a cooperative manner and form a smooth functioning society. The ability to manipulate masses of people is important in the democratic society. We look to those who govern us to provide us with ideas and what attitude we must have toward said idea. In our everyday lives we are dominated by the ideals and attitudes put in place by these people in higher positions. Bernay critiques this because in his mind the democratic beliefs of the people are lies. He believes that the masses and human nature as a whole isn’t pushed by the rational factors that are laid out in the Enlightenment model, but are instead pushed by irrational factors. These irrational factors are now the cornerstone to liberal democracies that we have today. Bernay also knew that with the increase in a more modern industrial society the masses couldn’t possibly be made up of informed individuals. There were just too many demands in everyday life, so Bernay argued for individuals that will filter ideas and other choices for the public, which is the same idea laid out in the political parties we have separated …show more content…
The rational model basically says that individuals have the brain capacity to act rational and do for the most part. The irrational model on the other hand basically says that the rational model is naïve and that individuals act irrationally all the time. The irrational model believes that individuals are controlled by their emotions and therefore can’t choose rationally. I can see how both sides are correct and work together and how this can affect our daily lives. Everyday we as people have to make decisions, and there’s even a popular saying about choosing with your head or choosing with your heart. Yes, sometimes individual’s emotions can get in the way and they will react or make a rash decision, but individuals can also choose with their heads. We are great at making well thought out decisions and I would say that’s pretty rational of
PHI 105 – Critical Thinking
March 1, 2017
Exam 1
1. Bullshitting is more harmful than the truth and can have long-term effects. The person behind the bullshitting typically doesn’t care about what is true and what is false, he just wants to convince you that he is right. Sometimes, the person doing the bullshitting even starts to believe there own bullshit because they don’t have the insight of what the truth really is anymore. I think these are all important reasons behind why Frankfurt calls relativism bullshit. Relativism is the idea that knowledge or truth only exist in relation to culture or the society your grew up in. To me that means that your knowledge or truth is basically useless if you go somewhere with a different …show more content…
As humans we have been governed for ages. Our thoughts and ideas are subtly thrust upon us from men that lived long before our time. These men directed and formed our habits and opinions to be relatively the same over all the masses. This allowed us to live in a cooperative manner and form a smooth functioning society. The ability to manipulate masses of people is important in the democratic society. We look to those who govern us to provide us with ideas and what attitude we must have toward said idea. In our everyday lives we are dominated by the ideals and attitudes put in place by these people in higher positions. Bernay critiques this because in his mind the democratic beliefs of the people are lies. He believes that the masses and human nature as a whole isn’t pushed by the rational factors that are laid out in the Enlightenment model, but are instead pushed by irrational factors. These irrational factors are now the cornerstone to liberal democracies that we have today. Bernay also knew that with the increase in a more modern industrial society the masses couldn’t possibly be made up of informed individuals. There were just too many demands in everyday life, so Bernay argued for individuals that will filter ideas and other choices for the public, which is the same idea laid out in the political parties we have separated …show more content…
The rational model basically says that individuals have the brain capacity to act rational and do for the most part. The irrational model on the other hand basically says that the rational model is naïve and that individuals act irrationally all the time. The irrational model believes that individuals are controlled by their emotions and therefore can’t choose rationally. I can see how both sides are correct and work together and how this can affect our daily lives. Everyday we as people have to make decisions, and there’s even a popular saying about choosing with your head or choosing with your heart. Yes, sometimes individual’s emotions can get in the way and they will react or make a rash decision, but individuals can also choose with their heads. We are great at making well thought out decisions and I would say that’s pretty rational of