GVPT241 Lecture 2/4/14Political Philosophy and the English Language or The Bullshit LectureDemos/Kratia: Bullshit- Harry Frankfurt on Bullshit- “The slowing of job growth impacted consumer sentiment”- “Candidate x blasted candidate y in order to galvanize their base”- Lying is different from bullshit because in order to lie you have to know the truth while bullshitter completely indifferent to truth of subject matter- Bullshitter worse than liar because has at least some concern about what truth actually is; bullshitter cares about appearing knowledgable- “The slowing of job growth impacted consumer sentiment”o We don’t know the sentiment, the consumero Impact is extremely vague; only indicates causal relationship but not descriptive kind of impact- “Candidate x blasted candidate y in order to galvanize their base”o Galvanize: means multiple things; originally meant to stimulate muscle with electricity or coat metal with zinc to strengthen ito Why say blasted instead of criticize or insult? Sounds violent/ powerful/catchy; military connotation- Harold Laski excerpt from Orwell essay- Laski one of most important political scientists of 20th century- Interested in group politics- Pluralism: political decisions need to be understood as result of competition among different interest groups- Orwell chooses him to show that issues with political language not related to how intelligent you are- Humanization and Galvanization of BBC Excerpt- Pretentious language- Passive voice- Zombie nouns (humanization and galvanization) make noun out of adjective; becomes meaningless because we make it into generalized noun- “Timidity here will be speak…” excerpt- Bad metaphor “as gentle as sucking dove”; weird, doesn’t make sense- Rhetorical appeal to emotions of reader but borders on silly- Pretentious language “timidity here will be speak canker and atrophy”- “A Virile new Britain…” excerpt- Fluff that doesn’t make sense- Has symmetrical syllables so basically made wordy- Author not mainly concerned with most appropriate word but rather syllables- Auditory/Visual non-specific choice of metaphors- Orwell thinks passive voice is bad in political writing because agent can be hidden by construction; covers over who is responsible for whatDying Metaphor- Ex: Toe the line- Political effect: not investing in mental image; not investing in word choice to properly explain the issue- Writer isn’t present- ThoughtlessnessPretentious Diction- Ex: see above- Political effect: investing claim with more authority than it deserves, gives more weight to claim than it deservesMeaningless Words- Ex: Democracy, Fascist- Political effect: removes your responsibility; muddles meaning of what you’re saying, so many different meanings attached to the word- “Essentially contested concept”: meaning constantly subject of debate because no consensusOperators or Verbal False Limbs- Orwell’s 6 Rules1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used toseeing in print2. Never use long word when short one will do3. If it’s possible to cut a word out, always cut it out4. Never use passive where you can use the active5. Never use a foreign phrase/scientific word/ or jargan word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent6. Break any of these rules sooner than saying outright barbarousThe Goals of Philosophical Writing- Clarity supports Precision (and vice versa) and generates
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