Con men: From the sophists of ancient greece to the current grifter in chief, philosophy has been at odds with them for millennia, and given their success, it seems like it’s been a losing battle.  Some of their success is because, as one famous grifter remarked, there’s a sucker born every minute.  We’ve seen then in many guises–snake oil salesmen, televangelists, self-help gurus–but there are three today–Jordan Peterson, Elon Musk, and Andrew Tate–who’ve not only taken the grift to new levels, but also, in so doing, revealed the grift–or rather, disclosed the bad metaphysics and bad politics that make the con possible. This disclosure is precisely what is analyzed in a new book by philosophers Landon Frim and Harrison Fluss-–Confidence Men: Peterson, Musk, Tate and the Duping of the American Mind (Penguin 2026).  We’re delighted to be joined today by Landon, who helps us understand better what con men are, why they are more than mere liars but rather “enemies of the truth,” why they are most frequently con men, what their philosophical worldview is, the role capitalism plays in the con, and what “good metaphysics” and “good politics” are needed to undermine their efforts and mitigate the conditions of possibility for their continued success.

About our Guest:  

Landon Frim (whose work can be perused HERE and HERE)  received his Ph.D. at Stony Brook, researching and writing about the  early modern period, and in particular, the radical political philosophy of Spinoza.   Together with his frequent collaborator Harrison Fluss (also a Stony Brook Ph.D. with a focus on Hegel and Marx), he is the co author of the book we discuss in this episode as well as several articles in Jacobin, The New Republic, and Inside Higher Ed on a wide range of subjects including questions on antisemitism and the rise of the alt right, the need for a more systemic philosophical framework for the political left, and criticisms of futurist and accelerationist thought.  They have  also published Prometheus and Gaia: Technology, Ecology and Anti-Humanism (Anthem Press in 2022) and Landon edited  a text book of ethical thought experiments called The Moral Labryinth.  He is currently completing a book on Spinoza and toleration

In this episode we discuss the following thinkers/ideas/texts/etc.:

• Dave Chappelle’s honest liar monologue on Saturday Night Live  (the bit in question starts at 8:06)
• Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals (particular essay 1, section 10)
• Kant, Critique of Pure Reason (on intelligible character)
• Hume, “Concerning Moral Sentiment”
• Stephen Colbert on Truthiness
• Carl Schmitt, Political Theology