467. I am sitting with a philosopher in the
garden; he says again and again “I know that that’s a tree”, pointing to a tree
that is near us. Someone else arrives and hears this, and I tell him: “This
fellow isn’t insane. We are only doing philosophy.”
say whatever you like –
and whether you are doing philosophy or not
–
the claim of knowledge –
is either irrelevant or deceptive
the claim of knowledge –
is a claim of authority –
the only authority is authorship –
the authorship of a proposition –
is logically irrelevant –
beyond authorship –
any claim to an authority –
is rhetorical
rhetoric is the art of persuasion –
and its basis is –
a false claim to authority
the ground of rhetoric –
is deception
© greg t.charlton. 2010.
