Well, this has been a most enlightening experience. And again, no matter how many times you iterate "I believe," all these belief sentences are false. Just a moment while I scan the dials of the brain-reading machine-no, the statement is false.Īnd what about "I believe that I believe that the book is red"?Īlso false. I retract the statement "It seems red to me" and instead I assert "I believe that this book is red." Is this statement true or false? This is fantastic! Suppose instead of the phrase "it seems like" I would say "I believe that." So let us start again at ground level. Wrong again! And no matter how many times you reiterate the phrase "it seems like" and follow it by "the book is red" you will be wrong. Really? It doesn't even seem that it seems red to me? It sure seems like it seems like it seems red to me! Goodness gracious, I really could have sworn that the book seemed red to me it sure seems that it seems read to me! I thus can read your every sensation and thought, and it is a simple objective truth that this book does not seem red to you. I have constructed a brain-reading machine-known technically as a cerebroscope-that is operative right now in this room and is scanning every nerve cell in your brain. I simply did the one obvious thing which should be done, viz. How could you possibly decide such things empirically? While other epistemologists have been solemnly arguing such questions as whether a man can be wrong when he asserts that he believes such and such, I have discovered how to settle such questions experimentally. But the trouble with all past epistemologists is that they have been using wholly theoretical methods, and much of their discussion degenerates into mere word games. Epistemology is the true foundation of philosophy. Metaphysical problems about "mind" versus "matter" arise only from epistemological confusions. Private mental states! Metaphysical hogwash! Look, I am a practical epistemologist. All you said was that it seems red to you, and it is this statement which is wrong.īut you can't say that the statement "It seems red to me" is wrong.īut surely I know what color the book seems to me!īut nobody knows better than I how things seem to me.īut how could you have access to my private mental states? I obviously couldn't have meant that you were wrong in that it is red, since you did not say that it is red. Let me get this clear did you mean that I was wrong that this book is red, or that I was wrong that it seems red to me? (You will soon find out what that means!) The epistemologist holds up a book and also asks, "What color is this book?" Now, Frank has been earlier dismissed by the eye doctor as "cured." However, he is now of a very analytical and cautious temperament, and will not make any statement that can possibly be refuted. (A few weeks later.) Frank is in a laboratory in the home of an experimental epistemologist. But fortunately your condition is curable, and I will have you in perfect shape in a couple of weeks." The doctor holds up a book and asks "What color is it?" Frank answers, "Red." The doctor says, "Aha, just as I thought! Your whole color mechanism has gone out of kilter. Send us feedback about these examples.An Epistemological Nightmare An Epistemological Nightmareįrank is in the office of an eye doctor. These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hogwash.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. 2020 The latter hogwash led to a deeply disappointing number of online videos of people sticking metal objects to themselves. 2022 Film music historians agree that this is hogwash. Tim Reynolds, ajc, But that's hogwash, experts say. Mary Carole McCauley, Baltimore Sun, 11 June 2023 Bluntly, this is hogwash. Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 24 July 2023 And any mention of the actor and composer as porcines of interest would be pure hogwash. Recent Examples on the Web The Reynolds administration has been something of a one-stop shop for this kind hogwash that’s blind to the consequences of loosening child labor laws.
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