Product Description
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. 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, as Harry Frankfurt writes, "we have no theory." Frankfurt, one of the world's most influential moral philosophers, attempts to build such a theory here. With his characteristic combination of philosophical acuity, psychological insight, and wry humor, Frankfurt proceeds by exploring how bullshit and the related concept of humbug are distinct from lying. He argues that bullshitters misrepresent themselves to their audience not as liars do, that is, by deliberately making false claims about what is true. In fact, bullshit need not be untrue at all. Rather, bullshitters seek to convey a certain impression of themselves without being concerned about whether anything at all is true. They quietly change the rules governing their end of the conversation so that claims about truth and falsity are irrelevant. Frankfurt concludes that although bullshit can take many innocent forms, excessive indulgence in it can eventually undermine the practitioner's capacity to tell the truth in a way that lying does not. Liars at least acknowledge that it matters what is true. By virtue of this, Frankfurt writes, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.
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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
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 A Liar's Paradox
An American version of the Liar's paradox but with other nuances, this tiny philosophical tome is worthy of the Western Canon of Philosophy. It is worth reading. Critically speaking, however, much of the connotation and denotation of the word analyzed within this book is lost within the philosophical logic. The word under consideration is used often in the American West, but all of the rugged ranch humor associated with that word is lost within a philosophical dissection of the word's etymology. That said, the logically twisted arguments presented in this book create a paradoxical gift for the reader. Within the book, hidden between the lines, there is a fun and challenging puzzle; And it is veiled in a joke.
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 defining BS
This treatise is simply an exploration of the definition of the commonly used term 'bulls***' (just to be on the safe side of Amazon censors). Frankfurt's main task is to dilineate between outright lies and bs. He comes to the conclusion that a lie is something that cares about the truth value of a proposition while bs does not care. Bs is expressed simply to meet some goal and not to tell either a truth or a falsehood. This definition is sensible in modern use of the term. Think about that essay question on an exam and how you bs'ed your way through it - this implies that you don't really care about the truth-value of your answer to the question but you were simply trying not to fail.
Do we need bs to be defined? Not really since I think we all could come up with similar ideas as that of Frankfurt. One thing he very briefly touches upon is whether or not the amount of bs in greater in the world now than before. He intimates that nowadays everybody has to have an opinion on everything so naturally people are bs'ing more because they feel they need an opinion on something they are totally ignorant. I think it's a good point.
Also, this book costs too much. Get it at the library if you must.
By the way, the follow-up book On Truth is much better.
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Really?
Is Frankfurt himself a BS-er? Either way it opens eyes to how much in the world really is questionable.
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Reference guide to business ethics
Quirky and very small (67 pages in a pocket-sized hardback format), this purports to be an academic consideration of the meaning of the titular word. And in fact it does give serious thought to the distinction between lying and BS-ing.
Intriguing is the best review I can think of for this book, which is easily read in one hour, although it might bear repeated reference during the course of a typical work day amongst those who might attempt to accomplish their purposes using this technique!
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Two Key Points -- No BS ( johnneardc )
This book has serious points to make, although the reader may wander through a few pages before becoming confident that it is not attempting a self-parody. Stay with it and glean at least two key concepts.
First, BS is not lying. A liar knows the truth and carefully crafts an alternative to it to further some agenda. The BSer operates without regard for--perhaps even knowledge of--the truth. The BS is created to achieve an effect, to please the ego or ear, or perhaps just to fill some conversational space the speaker feels unable to neglect with silence. To the BSer, the offered BS even has some non-zero chance of being true--if it were only worth the bother to check.
The second insight is that certain organizational roles create pressure to engage in BS more than others. The author points to leaders who have frequent opportunities or demands to speak about their organizations' accomplishments without being very involved in the planning, production or evaluation of said accomplishments. Much of what these leaders say will be BS, to the sorrow and pain of those who must live with the consequences.
I'll close with a recommendation and a plea. I recommend that you buy a copy of this book for your own intellectual and moral development. It is brief, readable and encourages us to think seriously about both the truth and consequences of what we claim to know. Satisfied readers will also value an encounter with the author's related book, On Truth.
I then plead with you to purchase a second copy and mail it anonymously to the Federal Executive Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia where Senior Executives for the Federal government are trained. Only good can come from some of them reading it. Members of the Senior Executive Service are selected based on general leadership ability and assigned jobs under the theory that specific technical program knowledge is far less important than this general ability. These conditions make them particularly likely to become chronic BSers. Let's try to help them--and ourselves.
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