One of the hottest books on the shelves right now is Harry Frankfurt’s Bullshit.
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| “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 George Walden, New Statesman "Bullshit is not falsity, but fakery, which makes it an indispensable cultural as well as political guide". |
Have you read it?
I’ve seen it before, and almost bought it.
This author was featured on 60 Minutes (or some TV news magazine). I imagine he’s doing the book circuit as well. Isn’t this a matter of spinning the very BS that he describes in the book?? I guess if you’re going to study it and write about it, you might as well get paid for it. Maybe he could create a curriculum that results in a B.S. for BS; of course, maybe that already exists anyway.
Actually, although humorous, the book is serious. He is one of the best philosophers around. 
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| He is one of the best philosophers around |
that’s rather subjective, don’t you think?
ike
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that’s rather subjective, don’t you think? ike |
No, just more B.S. As they say, it takes one to know one. The author was full of it and himself on 60 minutes (how appropriate that this was on C-BS, evidently another slow news day). They found another self-anointed “expert” from Canada. Do we really need people to study this stuff?? What’s happened to “higher” education these days??
Ivy League Prof Sifts Through BS