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Full Idea
The task of philosophy is to unmask the illusion of objective reality - a trap that is, in a sense, laid for us by nature.
Gist of Idea
The task of philosophy is to unmask the illusion of objective reality
Source
Jean Baudrillard (The Intelligence of Evil [2004], p. 40)
Book Ref
Baudrillard,Jean: 'The Intelligence of Evil or The Lucidity Pact' [Berg 2005], p.40
A Reaction
There is a vast gap between this and the Lockean view (Idea 7653) that philosophers are there to help reveal reality, probably via science. I retain the Enlightenment faith that there is a reality to be found. Baudrillard must be taken seriously, though.
Related Idea
Idea 7653 I am just an under-labourer, clearing the ground in preparation for knowledge [Locke]
| 7974 | Without God we faced reality: what do we face without reality? [Baudrillard] |
| 7973 | There is no longer anything on which there is nothing to say [Baudrillard] |
| 7975 | The task of philosophy is to unmask the illusion of objective reality [Baudrillard] |
| 7976 | People like democracy because it means they can avoid power [Baudrillard] |
| 7977 | Only in the last 200 years have people demanded the democratic privilege of being individuals [Baudrillard] |
| 7978 | There is no need to involve the idea of free will to make choices about one's life [Baudrillard] |
| 7979 | The arrival of the news media brought history to an end [Baudrillard] |
| 7980 | In modern times, being useless is the essential aesthetic ingredient for an object [Baudrillard] |
| 7981 | Whole populations are terrorist threats to authorities, who unite against them [Baudrillard] |
| 7982 | Instead of thesis and antithesis leading to synthesis, they now cancel out, and the conflict is levelled [Baudrillard] |
| 7983 | Good versus evil has been banefully reduced to happiness versus misfortune [Baudrillard] |
| 7984 | Suicide is ascribed to depression, with the originality of the act of will ignored [Baudrillard] |
| 7985 | Pascal says secular life is acceptable, but more fun with the hypothesis of God [Baudrillard] |
| 7986 | Drunken boat pilots are less likely to collide than clearly focused ones [Baudrillard] |
| 7987 | Nothing is true, but everything is exact [Baudrillard] |