{"id":5226,"date":"2025-07-14T10:34:49","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T10:34:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/?p=5226"},"modified":"2025-07-15T14:49:41","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T14:49:41","slug":"relativity-of-bullshit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/2025\/07\/14\/relativity-of-bullshit\/","title":{"rendered":"Relativity of bullshit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>help me expand on the following idea. philosophy as escaping from bullshit. must be understood as relative to an original weltanschauung (presuppositions of an age ), relative to to the religious and political climate, relative to the science of the day, as well as relative to a person&#8217;s education. For example Snell&#8217;s discovery of the mind, points out that emotions seem to come from the outside, and therefore attributing them to gods seems at the time to be reasonable. another example is the prevalence of the catholic inquisition, which stifled inquiry. it seems to me that prior to darwin, it was reasonable to be a deist. expand on these and similar ideas giving me a history of progress in escaping from bullshit<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h6 class=\"wp-block-heading\">ChatGPT said:<\/h6>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a compelling and provocative framework\u2014&#8221;philosophy as escaping from bullshit&#8221;\u2014which can be understood as a historical process of gradually transcending the limiting worldviews (Weltanschauungen) of each age. The presuppositions of any given era shape what seems reasonable, rational, or even thinkable. What one age considers common sense or divine truth may be revealed in another as ideological constraint, superstition, or \u201cbullshit.\u201d Your idea lends itself to a historical narrative: a genealogy of reason, where each philosophical breakthrough marks an escape from inherited delusions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Below is an expanded outline with key epochs and thinkers that show how humanity has slowly pushed through inherited bullshit\u2014religious, political, scientific, and psychological\u2014to reach clearer understandings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Philosophy as the History of Escaping Bullshit: A Genealogy of Disillusionment<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>1. Archaic Consciousness and the Mythic Mind<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Weltanschauung<\/strong>: The gods are everywhere. The world is animated by spirits. Emotions, dreams, and fate are external\u2014sent by gods or daemons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Bullshit of the Age<\/strong>: No distinction between subject and object. No &#8220;self&#8221; as an interior. Agency is divine, not personal.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Key Escape<\/strong>: <em>Bruno Snell<\/em> (in <em>The Discovery of the Mind<\/em>) describes how the Greeks gradually separated myth from psychology. What we call &#8220;consciousness&#8221; was formed by this break.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Example<\/strong>: In Homer, Achilles\u2019 rage is sent by Athena. This was a reasonable belief in a world where interiority hadn\u2019t yet been conceptualized.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Interpretation<\/strong>: Philosophy begins as the moment people realize <em>not all emotions are divine visitations<\/em>. The &#8220;soul&#8221; becomes internal. Logos begins to displace mythos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>2. The Axial Age (800\u2013200 BCE)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Weltanschauung<\/strong>: Spiritual and ethical universalism emerges in multiple civilizations. The individual soul becomes ethically responsible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Bullshit of the Age<\/strong>: Still largely theocratic and hierarchical, but internal ethical awareness begins to dawn.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Key Escape<\/strong>: Socratic questioning, Confucian moral introspection, Buddhist analysis of suffering\u2014all break from mythic authoritarianism.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Example<\/strong>: Socrates dies for questioning the Athenian worldview. His method is the earliest known rigorous bullshit detector: elenchus (cross-examination).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Interpretation<\/strong>: This is the emergence of doubt as virtue. Truth becomes something pursued, not inherited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>3. Medieval Theocracy and Scholasticism<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Weltanschauung<\/strong>: God is the source of all truth. The Church interprets His will. Philosophy is theology\u2019s handmaiden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Bullshit of the Age<\/strong>: Rigid metaphysical systems enforced by religious authority. Inquiry is constrained by doctrine.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Key Escape<\/strong>: Islamic and later Christian philosophers like <em>Avicenna<\/em>, <em>Averroes<\/em>, and <em>Aquinas<\/em> try to reconcile reason and faith\u2014each pushing the limits of permissible inquiry.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Example<\/strong>: <em>Catholic Inquisition<\/em>\u2014suppression of heresy shows the institutional fear of free thought.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Alternative View<\/strong>: Yet within these boundaries, figures like <em>William of Ockham<\/em> (Ockham&#8217;s razor) begin subtly dismantling the scholastic edifice.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Interpretation<\/strong>: Philosophy survives under theological censorship, but seeds of secularism are planted via rational theology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>4. The Scientific Revolution &amp; Enlightenment<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Weltanschauung<\/strong>: The cosmos is governed by discoverable laws. Nature, not scripture, is the source of truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Bullshit of the Age<\/strong>: Dogmatic religion and monarchy are still powerful. \u201cNatural law\u201d can be co-opted to justify new forms of authority.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Key Escape<\/strong>:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Copernicus<\/em>, <em>Galileo<\/em>, and <em>Newton<\/em> replace a geocentric cosmos with a mechanistic one.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Hobbes<\/em>, <em>Locke<\/em>, <em>Voltaire<\/em>, and <em>Kant<\/em> reject divine-right monarchy and argue for rights, reason, and autonomy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Example<\/strong>: Pre-Darwin deism is rational: God as clockmaker is more coherent than God as daily micromanager.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Interpretation<\/strong>: Science displaces superstition. Philosophy reorients toward human autonomy, empiricism, and secular ethics. But the bullshit of early modernity remains\u2014e.g., colonial &#8220;civilizing&#8221; narratives dressed up as rationality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>5. 19th Century: Romanticism, Darwin, and Ideology Critique<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Weltanschauung<\/strong>: Rationality is double-edged. Progress is real, but so are alienation, industrial dehumanization, and ideological mystification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Bullshit of the Age<\/strong>: Industrial capitalism&#8217;s myths of inevitable progress and divine destiny. Racist and imperialist pseudoscience.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Key Escapes<\/strong>:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Darwin<\/em> dissolves the need for a designer. <em>Marx<\/em> exposes capitalism\u2019s ideological illusions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Nietzsche<\/em> announces the \u201cdeath of God\u201d and unmasks moral systems as will-to-power in disguise.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Example<\/strong>: The rationality of Victorian morality is revealed as social control.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Interpretation<\/strong>: Philosophy learns to critique <em>not just superstition, but rationality itself<\/em>. Truth is not neutral\u2014it\u2019s bound up in power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>6. 20th Century: Totalitarianism, Structuralism, and Postmodernity<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Weltanschauung<\/strong>: World wars, propaganda, mass media\u2014reason can be hijacked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Bullshit of the Age<\/strong>: Ideologies of race, nation, and progress weaponized to justify genocide, authoritarianism, and conformity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Key Escapes<\/strong>:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Freud<\/em>\u2014the unconscious as source of inner deception.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Foucault<\/em>\u2014truth and knowledge are historically constructed by power systems.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Sartre<\/em> and <em>Beauvoir<\/em>\u2014freedom and authenticity against bad faith.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Example<\/strong>: The Holocaust is enabled by &#8220;rational&#8221; bureaucratic systems. Philosophy becomes a refuge for critique against modern bullshit.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Interpretation<\/strong>: Philosophy expands its bullshit detector: not just myths and theology, but <em>structures, discourses, ideologies<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>7. 21st Century: Techno-Bullshit and Digital Disillusion<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Weltanschauung<\/strong>: Data is truth. Algorithms know you better than you know yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Bullshit of the Age<\/strong>: Technosolutionism, infinite scroll, influencer &#8220;truth,&#8221; AI hallucination, corporate woke-washing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Key Escapes (Ongoing)<\/strong>:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Digital ethics, critical AI theory, return to embodied philosophy (<em>e.g.<\/em>, phenomenology, eco-philosophy).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Zuboff<\/em> on surveillance capitalism, <em>Harari<\/em> on data religion, <em>Byung-Chul Han<\/em> on digital burnout.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Example<\/strong>: The idea that more data = more truth is increasingly questioned.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Interpretation<\/strong>: Escaping from digital bullshit means rediscovering attention, community, and the limits of quantification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion: The Philosophical Imperative<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Each age has its own <em>plausible bullshit<\/em>\u2014ideas that feel natural because they\u2019re embedded in the culture\u2019s language, media, and institutions. Philosophy\u2019s role is to make these assumptions visible, questionable, and ultimately escapable. This process is never complete\u2014each escape opens new traps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The history of philosophy, then, is not a straight line toward truth, but a spiral\u2014a continual unmasking of yesterday\u2019s certainties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Would you like this structured as a longer essay or lecture script? Or we could format it as a book proposal or blog series.Attach<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Search<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>help me expand on the following idea. philosophy as escaping from bullshit. must be understood as relative to an original weltanschauung (presuppositions of an age ), relative to to the religious and political climate, relative to the science of the day, as well as relative to a person&#8217;s education. For example Snell&#8217;s discovery of the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/2025\/07\/14\/relativity-of-bullshit\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Relativity of bullshit&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ai-assist","category-philosophy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5226"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5227,"href":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5226\/revisions\/5227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditext.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}