Monday, September 22, 2008

Bullshit or Not: Descartes Edition

There's an old sketch film called Amazon Women on the Moon and one of the bits is a parody of the old Leonard Nimoy show, "In Search Of..." called, "Bullshit or Not?" with the tagline "Bullshit or not? You decide." It's a line I like so much that I've stolen it for an irregular series of posts.

This time, let's work with a favorite quotation of mine from Rene Descartes' Discourse on Method

Good sense is the most evenly distributed commidity in the world, for each of us considers himself to be so well endowed therewith that even those who are the most difficult to please in all other matters are not wont to desire more than they have. It is not likely that anyone is mistakedn about this fact. Rather, it provides evidence that the power of judging rightly and distinguishing the true from the false (which, properly speaking, is what people call good sense or reason) is naturally equal in all men.
So, bullshit or not, you decide. As usual, feel free to leave anything from a single word to a dissertation.