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On Bullshit, by Harry Frankfurt
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Written by Harry G. Frankfurt, Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Princeton University-one of the world's most influential moral philosophers-On Bullshit has to be heard to be believed! This best-seller describes the unique situation in our culture in which the truth is overwhelmed by wave after wave of nonsense and misrepresentation. Faced with no clearly articulated theory of this condition, what function it serves, or what it means to us, Frankfurt enters his own brilliant theory.
- Sales Rank: #1361234 in Books
- Published on: 2005-04-29
- Released on: 2005-04-29
- Formats: Audiobook, CD, Unabridged
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 5.70" h x .49" w x 5.04" l, .24 pounds
- Running time: 60 minutes
- Binding: Audio CD
Amazon.com Review
"One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit," Harry G. Frankfurt writes, in what must surely be the most eyebrow-raising opener in modern philosophical prose. "Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted." This compact little book, as pungent as the phenomenon it explores, attempts to articulate a theory of this contemporary scourge--what it is, what it does, and why there's so much of it. The result is entertaining and enlightening in almost equal measure. It can't be denied; part of the book's charm is the puerile pleasure of reading classic academic discourse punctuated at regular intervals by the word "bullshit." More pertinent is Frankfurt's focus on intentions--the practice of bullshit, rather than its end result. Bullshitting, as he notes, is not exactly lying, and bullshit remains bullshit whether it's true or false. The difference lies in the bullshitter's complete disregard for whether what he's saying corresponds to facts in the physical world: he "does not reject the authority of the truth, as the liar does, and oppose himself to it. He pays no attention to it at all. By virtue of this, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are."
This may sound all too familiar to those of use who still live in the "reality-based community" and must deal with a world convulsed by those who do not. But Frankfurt leaves such political implications to his readers. Instead, he points to one source of bullshit's unprecedented expansion in recent years, the postmodern skepticism of objective truth in favor of sincerity, or as he defines it, staying true to subjective experience. But what makes us think that anything in our nature is more stable or inherent than what lies outside it? Thus, Frankfurt concludes, with an observation as tiny and perfect as the rest of this exquisite book, "sincerity itself is bullshit." --Mary Park
Review
A #1 New York Times Bestseller
Winner of the 2005 Bestseller Award in Philosophy, The Book Standard
"[Frankfurt] tries, with the help of Wittgenstein, Pound, St. Augustine and the spy novelist Eric Ambler, among others, to ask some of the preliminary questions--to define the nature of a thing recognized by all but understood by none. . . . What is bullshit, after all? Mr. Frankfurt points out it is neither fish nor fowl. Those who produce it certainly aren't honest, but neither are they liars, given that the liar and the honest man are linked in their common, if not identical, regard for the truth."--Peter Edidin, New York Times
"The scholar who answers the question, 'What is bullshit?' bids boldly to define the spirit of the present age. . . . Frankfurt's conclusion . . . is that bullshit is defined not so much by the end product as by the process by which it is created. Eureka! Frankfurt's definition is one of those not-at-all-obvious insights that become blindingly obvious the moment they are expressed."--Timothy Noah, Slate
"Immediately, I must say: read it. Beautifully written, lucid, ironic and profound, it is a model of what philosophy can and should do. It is a small and highly provocative masterpiece, and I really don't think I am bullshitting you here."--Bryan Appleyard, The Sunday Times (London)
"This is what the world has long needed. . . . Bullshit is now such a dominant feature of our culture that most of us are confident we can recognize and rebuff it. But Frankfurt shows the reader just how insidious (and destructive) it can be. . . . This book will change your life."--Leopold Froehlich, Playboy
"Frankfurt's book should be required reading for anyone whose speech or writing are intended for public consumption. Despite his subject, he is definitely not full of it."--Kevin Wood, The Daily Yomiuri
"On Bullshit offers a tightly focused, telling critique of a political and cultural climate that seems positively humid with mendacity, obfuscation, evasion and illusion."--Steven Winn, San Francisco Chronicle
"There is an interesting problem sketched at the end of the book, wherein sincerity is described as an ideal for those who do not believe that there is any (objective) truth, thus departing from the ideal correctness. . . . Needless to say, there are numerous problems which may be expanded, looked into and analyzed concerning bullshit. And I dare say that Frankfurt's little book is a nice starting point."--Petter A. Naessan, Philosophy Now
"[On Bullshit's] calm, clearheaded deconstruction of everyday deceit is without parallel."--Gordon Phinn, Books in Canada
"With its relevance to contemporary issues and culture, On Bullshit is well worth the read. . . . The analysis is strict and philosophical with the clear intention of seeking the truth."--Karen Boore, The Michigan Review
"Harry Frankfurt, a Princeton philosophy professor, presents a scholarly and formal essay on inflated truth, purposeful obfuscation, and pretentious duplicity. . . . I'm sure he had a blast writing it, and the droll prose is a tasty treat."--Richard Pachter, The Boston Globe
"Professor Frankfurt concludes that bullshit is a process rather than an end product. . . . If you are fed up with hype, spin and bullshit this book will provide insight - and therapy."--Australian Doctor
"Terrific. . . . Has anything truer ever been written?"--William Watson, Montreal Gazette
"If you want to read a succinct, stylish piece of argument that will make you think far beyond the points it makes, you could do no better than invest ten dollars on Professor Frankfurt's handsomely bound essay."--Christopher Jary, British Army Review
From the Inside Flap
"A gem of psychological insight, social commentary, philosophical analysis, and good humor. This is the work of an extraordinarily acute, attentive, and versatile philosopher who has succeeded in addressing an audience comprised of both other philosophers and the general public on a topic of considerable human interest in a characteristically wry and engaging way. It is one of the most enjoyable and humanly illuminating short pieces of philosophy produced in the past fifty years."--Raymond Geuss, University of Cambridge
"The most audacious of the ancient alchemists desired to transmute lead into gold. They never succeeded. Who would have known that they should have started not with a base metal, but with bullshit? Harry Frankfurt offers a philosophical analysis of bullshit that is golden. The prose by turns employs irony, broad humor, and tongue-in-cheek high seriousness while at the same time manages to have a rigorous logical coherence that is always impressive. One leaves the essay not merely thinking it was a delight. One leaves it realizing that one has engaged the accomplishment of a great analyst and thinker."--William Chester Jordan, Professor of History, Princeton University
Most helpful customer reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
67 pages of non-stop sense
By kirtida gautam
The shortest and least BULLS*** book I read this year. 67 pages of non-stop sense. It's hard to find these days.
The essence of bullshit is not that it is FALSE but that it is PHONY.
Someone who lies and someone who tells the truth are playing on opposite sides, so to speak, in the same game. Each responds to the facts as he understand them, although the response of the one is guided by the authority of truth, while the response of the other defies that authority and refuses to meet its demands. The bulls***ter ignores these demands altogether. He does not reject the authority of the truth, as the liar does, and opposes himself to it at all. He pays no attention to it at all. By virtue of this, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.
Excerpt from On Bullshit by Harry G Frankfurt.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Untruthiness
By Andrew Everett
“One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much BS.” BS can refer to a number of things, including pointless tasks or requirements, but the main topic of this book is the widespread disregard for truth in speech and writing.
Frankfurt makes a distinction between lying and BSing. “It is impossible for someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth. Producing BS requires no such conviction.”
“The liar is essentially someone who deliberately promulgates a falsehood… The essence of BS is not that it is false but that it is phony… to bluff one’s way through (something) by talking nonsense… Although it is produced without concern with the truth, it need not be false. The BSer is faking things. But this does not mean that he necessarily gets them wrong.”
“Someone who lies and someone who tells the truth” are both responding to the facts. “The response of the one is guided by the authority of the truth, while the response of the other defies that authority and refuses to meet its demands. The BSer ignores these demands altogether… He pays no attention to it at all. By virtue of this, BS is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.”
“So why is there so much BS?”
“BS is unavoidable whenever circumstances require someone to talk without knowing what he is talking about. Thus the production of BS is stimulated whenever a person’s obligations or opportunities to speak about some topic exceed his knowledge of the facts that are relevant to that topic. This discrepancy is common in public life, where people are frequently impelled–whether by their own propensities or by the demands of others—to speak extensively of which they are to some degree ignorant. Closely related instances arise from the widespread conviction that it is the responsibility of a citizen in a democracy to have opinions about everything, or at least everything that pertains to the conduct of his country’s affairs.” This reminds me of the Dunning-Kruger effect, a cognitive bias wherein incompetent people are overconfident.
“The contemporary proliferation of BS also has deeper sources, in various forms of skepticism which deny that we can have any reliable access to an objective reality… One response to this loss of confidence has been a retreat from the discipline required by dedication to the ideal of correctness to a quite different sort of discipline, which is imposed by pursuit of an alternative ideal of sincerity.” This implies that political correctness and the academic climate of no wrong answers have played a role in making BS a socially acceptable alternative to truth.
The author makes an amusing analogy between hot air and excrement. “Just as hot air is speech that has been emptied of all informative content, so excrement is matter from which everything nutritive has been removed.” However, given that manure is widely used as fertilizer, I think this statement is an unintentional example of BS.
Frankfurt contradicts himself when he states on page 53 that BS “is less a matter of craft than of art. Hence the familiar notion of the ‘BS artist.’” On page 22 he made the opposite assertion. “The realms of advertising and of public relations, and the nowadays closely related realm of politics, are replete with instances of BS so unmitigated that they can serve among the most indisputable and classic paradigms of the concept. And in these realms there are exquisitely sophisticated craftsmen who—with the help of advanced and demanding techniques of market research, of public opinion polling, of psychological testing, and so forth—dedicate themselves tirelessly to getting every word and image they produce exactly right.”
While only 67 4×6-inch pages, the book contains a lot of extraneous rambling before the author gets to his point. For example, on page five Frankfurt refers to Max Black, author of The Prevalence of Humbug. “Black suggests a number of synonyms for humbug, including the following: balderdash, claptrap, hokum, drivel, buncombe, imposture, and quackery. This list of quaint equivalents of is not very helpful.” If it is not helpful, then why bring it up? Frankfurt is a master of verbosity.
This book has some giggle value as a gag gift. Or leave a copy on your coffee table to start a conversation.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful.
Great Read!
By Ginger Dawn Harman
This book came recommended to me by a friend. I had caught someone in a lie and well my friend quickly humbled me. We immediately had a discussion on why people lie and how honest is the world we’ve created around ourselves? How often do I tell lies or tell bulls***? Nevertheless, I am so grateful that this book was suggested to me. Harry G. Frankfurt writes with a strong conviction, subtle humor, and had me inwardly pondering the wisdom in his novel, On Bulls***.
The book begins with Frankfurt explaining the difference between what is and is not bulls***. This is thought provoking and a bit tongue and cheek. I was immediately captivated with this quote, “One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bulls***.” References are made with the definition from the Oxford English Dictionary, quotes by Saint Augustine, and Wittgenstein. Frankfurt continues to show how both the liar and those bulls***ing are gaining through their behavior. Yet, it is important as what their intentions are with the act. This is followed by if it is a conscious act of deception or independent to a concern for truth.
My favorite quote to ponder was, “Telling a lie is an act with a sharp focus. It is designed to insert a particular falsehood at a particular point in a set or system of beliefs, in order to have that point occupied by the truth. This requires a degree of craftsmanship, in which the teller of the lie submits to objective constraints imposed by what he takes to be the truth. The liar is inescapably concerned with truth-values. In order to invent a lie at all, he must think he knows what is true. And in order to invent an effective lie, he must design his falsehood under the guidance of that truth.” This is rather brilliant because lies/truth values can be carried over to the world of politics, education, relationships, and much more. It had me the reader wanting to discuss the book with others and expand on the ideas that Frankfurt had initiated.
I was very disappointed on the length of the book. I wanted more and felt the topic could go further. The price point was appropriate and the cover was lack luster. As a reader this book would make a great book club discussion, college course lecture, and bring about much debate. I did find On Bulls*** by Harry G. Frankfurt an above average read and it provided much enjoyment.
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