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Articles

Popular Bogus Questions

Stephen Doty says we should rephrase certain questions so as not to be bamboozled by language.

What is truth? What is beauty? These and similar questions are still revered and often asked by philosophers despite being bogus.

A book catalog from a leading university recently printed this: “‘What is truth?’ has long been the philosophical question par excellence.” Not according to the sharpest philosophers, though. The catalog neglects to mention this; perhaps, because so many still pose the question. The Internet has over 50,000 instances of “What is truth?” And some leading professors still abuse the what is x? form, as do practically all the novices at the Socrates Cafés, who seem to rely on it exclusively.

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