Return to Saussure

Bûcher des vanités. AI art Introduction — When Questioning Becomes Transgression Critical thought once assumed that reality could be questioned. Philosophy, politics, and theory all relied on a minimal distance from the real, a space in which interrogation remained legitimate. One could challenge institutions, reinterpret events, or expose illusions without crossing a fundamental boundary. In the opening chapter of The Intelligence of Evil or the Lucidity Pact , Jean Baudrillard suggests that this space has collapsed. What once counted as critique now appears as transgression. Baudrillard’s discourse is scandalous not because it opposes the system, but because it violates a new taboo: the unquestionability of reality itself. Under what he calls “Integral Reality,” to question the real is no longer an intellectual act. It is treated as heresy. From Critique to Taboo There was a time when disagreement did not imply moral fault. To question truth claims was part of thought itsel...

I care about reality. AI art Introduction In a clip titled I Don’t Care About Jordan Peterson’s Metaphorical Truth , Matt Dillahunty, former host of The Atheist Experience , delivers a candid reflection on his encounter with Jordan Peterson. At one point, Dillahunty declares: “I don't care about metaphorical truths at all. I care about reality.” What seems like a straightforward appeal to common sense is, on closer inspection, laden with philosophical assumptions. Dillahunty’s statement not only distances him from Peterson’s symbolic interpretations of religion, but also inadvertently invites scrutiny from thinkers such as Friedrich Nietzsche, George Lakoff & Mark Johnson, and Jacques Derrida. Their theories of language and meaning challenge the sharp divide Dillahunty posits between metaphor and reality, and reveal the fragility of this opposition. Metaphorical Truth and Its Discontents Jordan Peterson has often suggested that biblical narratives, while not literally f...