Hearsay

• 'Philosophy of mind is more than marketing trick. But it’s hard to prevent hot and trendy topics from blending together, even when they themselves are much weightier: ISIS, political correctness, a dog playing a cowbell, an actress giving a speech at the Oscars, a dress. They are all just content. Any content will do.'

'Aside from the serious risks to an informed citizenry and a functioning democracy associated with treating mere conjecture and opinion as objective reporting, there is the danger of contagion. Unless people are fortunate enough to have studied argumentation or are otherwise capable of separating at least reasonable objectivity from fiction, they’re likely to be easily led. A functional democracy is underpinned by — indeed impossible without — informed citizens.  Aristotle argued for teaching the techniques of persuasion so that people might protect themselves from distraction and dishonesty. Without such awareness, each of us risks becoming the easy victim of modern day sophistry.'