On Bullshit

Princeton professor Harry G. Frankfurt has published a pamphlet entitled On Bullshit (Princeton University Press, 2005), 65 small pages of large type which ought not require additional condensation.

Frankfurt starts, "One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit....But we tend to take the situation for granted...In consequence we have no clear understanding of what bullshit is...".

Other words have similar or parallel import, such as "humbug" or "claptrap", but the author finds that bullshit has particular traits and differences from showmanship or misrepresentations or similar concepts. Somehow we know that bullshit is a particular type of misrepresentation.

Frankfurt makes the most specific comparison and contrast between bullshit and lying. In lying the untruth is the goal. The liar wants the listener to think true something which is not true for the purpose of gaining whatever the liar seeks. Bullshit, on the other hand is essentially the indifference to truth. Bullshit does not have to be false, but the bullshit artist speaks without the underlying concern as to whether it is true or false, because that is not his goal. His goal is something else, to project an image, to get the girl, or to get elected, so the truth or falsehood of what is said is immaterial, only the achieving of some other goal. The liar lies to convince the listener of an inaccurate fact. The bluster is indifferent to the truth because he is unconcerned with the facts. Both an honest person and a liar have concern with the truth. A bulshitter is indifferent to the truth.

The best place to test Frankfurt’s theory, of course is C-SPAN. No shortage of bullshit there.