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10 - On bullshit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

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Summary

One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and to avoid being taken in by it. So the phenomenon has not aroused much deliberate concern, nor attracted much sustained inquiry.

In consequence, we have no clear understanding of what bullshit is, why there is so much of it, or what functions it serves. And we lack a conscientiously developed appreciation of what it means to us. In other words, we have no theory. I propose to begin the development of a theoretical understanding of bullshit, mainly by providing some tentative and exploratory philosophical analysis. I shall not consider the rhetorical uses and misuses of bullshit. My aim is simply to give a rough account of what bullshit is and how it differs from what it is not – or (putting it somewhat differently) to articulate, more or less sketchily, the structure of its concept.

Any suggestion about what conditions are logically both necessary and sufficient for the constitution of bullshit is bound to be somewhat arbitrary. For one thing, the expression bullshit is often employed quite loosely – simply as a generic term of abuse, with no very specific literal meaning.

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The Importance of What We Care About
Philosophical Essays
, pp. 117 - 133
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1988

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  • On bullshit
  • Harry G. Frankfurt
  • Book: The Importance of What We Care About
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511818172.011
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  • On bullshit
  • Harry G. Frankfurt
  • Book: The Importance of What We Care About
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511818172.011
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • On bullshit
  • Harry G. Frankfurt
  • Book: The Importance of What We Care About
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511818172.011
Available formats
×