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Encyclopedia > On Bullshit

On Bullshit is an essay by philosopher Harry Frankfurt. Originally published in the journal Raritan in 1986, the essay was republished as a separate volume in 2005 and became a nonfiction bestseller. For other uses, see Philosophy (disambiguation). ... Harry Gordon Frankfurt (born May 29, 1929) is a professor emeritus of philosophy at Princeton University. ... Raritan Quarterly Review is a well-regarded literary journal that publishes poetry, fiction and essays. ...


In the essay, Frankfurt sketches a theory of bullshit, defining the concept and analyzing its applications. In particular, Frankfurt distinguishes bullshitting from lying; while the liar deliberately makes false claims, the bullshitter is simply uninterested in the truth. Bullshitters aim primarily to impress and persuade their audiences. While liars need to know the truth, the better to conceal it, the bullshitter, interested solely in advancing his own agenda, has no use for the truth. Following from this, Frankfurt claims that "bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are." Horseshit redirects here. ... This article is about untruthfulness. ... Time Saving Truth from Falsehood and Envy, François Lemoyne, 1737 For other uses, see Truth (disambiguation). ...


This work laid the foundation for Frankfurt's 2006 follow-up book, On Truth. On Truth (ISBN 0-307-26422-X) is the 2006 sequel to Harry Frankfurts 2005 bestselling book, On Bullshit. ...


Publication history

The Princeton University Press is a publishing house, a division of Princeton University, that is highly respected in academic publishing. ...

External links


  Results from FactBites:
 
bullshit: Definition and Much More From Answers.com (1387 words)
Bullshit as an activity commonly occurs in situations where truth and accuracy are far less important than the ability to achieve a suitable response in the audience.
Bullshit does not necessarily have to be a complete fabrication; with only basic knowledge about a topic, bullshit is often used to make the audience believe that one knows far more about the topic by feigning total certainty or making probable predictions.
Bullshit is also used in the popular saying "money talks, bullshit walks" meaning that people who "do something" such as "put their money on the table", or "put up or shutup" will get more results than people who merely talk.
Frankfurt, H.G.: On Bullshit. (629 words)
Most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and to avoid being taken in by it.
By virtue of this, Frankfurt writes, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.
Bullshit is now such a dominant feature of our culture that most of us are confident we can recognize and rebuff it.
  More results at FactBites »

 

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