Lip liner on my smile lines

There's so much else to discuss.

For example, I just read two books from Harry Frankfurt, a contemporary philosopher. The two books are On Bullshit and On Truth, both of which are great books. But I loved On Truth. If/when I get my own place and finally establish my library...I will definitely have some Harry Frankfurt books in it.

They're both very short, very small books-- 100 pages each, but probably about fifty pages in a regular sized book. Both very interesting.

Before I return them to avoid the late fees, I'll post some passages I really liked:

"Spinoza maintained that regardless of whether we enjoy, feel comfortable with, or cherish the species of rationality that is at issue here, that kind of rationality will be imposed on us. Whether we like it or not, we really cannot help submitting to it. We are driven to do so, as Spinoza understood the matter, by love.
Spinoza explained the nature of love as follows:'Love is nothing but Joy with the accompanying idea of an external cause'(Ethics, part III, proposition 13, scholium). As for the meaning of 'joy', he stipulated that it is 'what follows that passion by which the...[individual] passes to a greater perfection.'"

"Joy, as I think [Spinoza] understands it, is a feeling of the enlargement of one's power to live, and to continue living, in accord with one's most authentic nature...Spinoza believed it follows from this that people cannot help loving truth. They cannot help doing so, he thought, because they cannot help recognizing that truth is indispensable in enabling them to stay alive, to understand themselves, and to live fully in accord with their own natures."

He also goes on about lying and Kantian ideas on it-- essentially that it destroys society by taking away all value from social discourse. But as Frankfurt points out, some people do actually enjoy the promotion of bullshit.

And in understanding bullshit, it's best to read On Bullshit. He really goes into it-- that's it not quite lying or telling the truth. Bullshit is the greatest enemy of truth because speakers who bullshit have no concern for whether what they say is true or not-- the truth value of their statements are of no importance. The bullshitter and liar mislead about completely different things: while the liar misleads about the content of what [s]he's saying, [s]he also simultaneously acknowledges that they have an idea of what the truth is. Bullshitters, meanwhile, acknowledge no difference, and if they do, don't care one way or the other.

The bullshitter misleads in that [s]he pretends to care about whether or not the information is true or not.

Very good books. I recommend.

Also, my suitemate Bobo gave me two beautiful children's books from the bestselling series The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing. She got them from work. So exciting! And hardcover, too. Thanks, Bobo! =)

I also wanted to talk about the VP debate, but perhaps that'll be for next time.

Later.