Transcription of On Bullshit
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On Bullshit
On BullshitHarry FrankfurtPrinceton UniversityOne of the most salient features of our culture is that there is somuch Bullshit . Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes hisshare. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most peopleare rather confident of their ability to recognize Bullshit and toavoid being taken in by it. So the phenomenon has not arousedmuch deliberate concern, or attracted much sustained inquiry. Inconsequence, we have no clear understanding of what Bullshit is,why there is so much of it, or what functions it serves. And welack a conscientiously developed appreciation of what it means tous. In other words, we have no theory. I propose to begin thedevelopment of a theoretical understanding of Bullshit , mainly byproviding some tentative and exploratory philosophical analysis. Ishall not consider the rhetorical uses and misuses of Bullshit . Myaim is simply to give a rough account of what Bullshit is and howit differs from what it is not, or (putting it somewhat differently)to articulate, more or less sketchily, the structure of its suggestion about what conditions are logically both necessaryand sufficient for the constitution of Bullshit is bound to besomewhat arbitrary.
a new beginning for mankind.” This is surely humbug. As Black’s account suggests, the orator is not lying. He would be lying only if it were his intention to bring about in his audience beliefs which he himself regards as false, concerning such matters as whether our country is great, whether it …
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