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Humbug

Just been reading philosopher Max Black's excellent piece on humbug. Black outlines a number of coping strategies re humbug. This had me giggling:

Strongly to be recommended also are humor, parody, and satire. The glorious response, for instance, of the philosopher Samuel Alexander, in his deaf old age, shaking his ear trumpet with laughter on being introduced to a Harvard professor: "I must be getting very deaf -- I thought you said he was a professor of business ethics!"

Comments

Timmo said…
Hi Stephen,

Perhaps you're already aware, but there's a book that's similar in spirit by Henry Frankfurt On Bullshit. It's so small and short I'm surprised it's a book, but it's great. There's a number of interviews with Frankfurt on the internet, too.
June 14, 2010 at 3:18 AM
Stephen Law said…
yes I've got it...
June 14, 2010 at 9:09 AM
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