Enquiries

[From Bruce Gregory (971223.1455 EST)]

"Pseudo-Inquiry; and the Real Thing

A genuine inquirer aims to find out the truth of some question, whatever the
color of that truth. This is a tautology (Webster's: "inquiry: search for
truth . . ."). A pseudo-inquirer seeks to make a case for the truth of some
proposition(s) determined in advance. There are two kinds of pseudo-inquirer,
the sham and the fake. A sham reasoner is concerned, not to find out how
things really are, but to make a case for some immovably-held preconceived
conviction. A fake reasoner is concerned, not to find out how things really
are, but to advance himself by making a case for some proposition to the
truth-value of which he is indifferent. (Such indifference is, as Harry
Frankfurt once shrewdly observed, the characteristic attitude of the
bullshitter.)"

The Skeptical Enquirer
November 1997