Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
On Bullshit
On Bullshit | Harry G. Frankfurt
12 posts | 20 read | 15 to read
A #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 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.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
blurb
Texreader
On Bullshit | Harry G. Frankfurt
post image

I may have to read this book. Here‘s the last sentence in his obituary: “People in this country are starved for the truth.”

https://apple.news/Ahvt2Pqn6QhSCch9pWLgWqw

review
WarandWar
On Bullshit | Harry G. Frankfurt
Pickpick

It's less silly and dumb than you think- its really a philosophy book on what "bullshit" means, with the answer being insightful, and appliable to many forms of speech where one suspects the speaker really only cares about how they look over being truthful. A short and fun read, but be warned: big words and complex sentences abound.

review
Pedrocamacho
On Bullshit | Harry G. Frankfurt
post image
Pickpick

This is a Trump-era-related reread. The first sentence in the book is, “One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit.” This book (academic paper, really) was written in 2005. I wonder what the first sentence would be were it written in 2019.

review
MrBook
On Bullshit | Harry G. Frankfurt
post image
Pickpick

What a wonderful piece! This short, pithy essay absorbs the reader in attempting to pin down a seemingly amorphous concept (a common feature across the pop-lexical landscape)—bullshit. He uses definitional & idiomatic starting points and builds from those. Easy to understand, yet induced serious “ah-hah” reflection from me. A fun read for anyone who enjoys language.

#PairWith: a spot of piping English Breakfast or a few shots of American Honey.

152 likes7 stack adds
blurb
Rachellynnwright
On Bullshit | Harry G. Frankfurt
post image

Can I get a round of #thisisbullshit!? It‘s 2018 and women are still getting paid less than men for the same job? Come on, it‘s time for this to change!
#genderequality

TrishB 😡😡 7y
Caroline2 🤬 7y
38 likes2 comments
quote
Krisjericho
On Bullshit | Harry G. Frankfurt
post image

Okay, I am not reading this book right now, but Brené Brown uses this quote in her book, Braving the Wilderness, and now I can wait to read this. The next quote I'm going to post is her continuation of this.

review
daisya20
On Bullshit | Harry G. Frankfurt
post image
Panpan

2.5/5 stars

blurb
BookHermit
On Bullshit | Harry G. Frankfurt
post image

I feel my liberal arts degrees provided me with some inoculation against BS but this looks like a fun refresher. http://callingbullshit.org/syllabus.html#Big

lynneamch Thank you! I'll be sharing this. 8y
33 likes1 stack add1 comment
blurb
LuLeeBelle
On Bullshit | Harry G. Frankfurt
post image

Yo, Amazon. Could you do me a solid and chill out with the AH-Mazing deals?

review
Procrastireader
On Bullshit | Harry G. Frankfurt
post image
Pickpick

There I was, adrift. It was 11/9. And what should arrive in the mail but "On Bullshit." This is a serious monograph (67 pp) on the subject that attempts to define its subject, placing it outside the truth/lie continuum, but finding it more dangerous to the truth than lies, because truth-tellers & liars both acknowledge that there IS a truth, but BSers are "unconnected to a concern with the truth." Five necessary stars.

Procrastireader This is a nice little hardback (about 4" x 6"). Buy it, read it, then send it to your 3 Congresscritters & tell them to keep it in their pocket, next to their Constitution. 8y
Hooked_on_books Very timely! 8y
8 likes2 comments
blurb
TK-421
On Bullshit | Harry G. Frankfurt
post image

My first few posts were quote photos from the books I was reading. I'd check Litsy now & then, add some of my books to see if anyone else had posted about them, but I didn't know what else to do! It wasn't until I stumbled across the Sept photo challenge that I found a way to participate. Thank you @RealLifeReading @TheSpinecrackersBookClub @LibrarianRyan @QueenAnne for the photo challenges! I love this community! #Booktober #FirstEverLitsyPost

TK-421 I'm still trying to figure out the daily stuff (tbr tuesday, recommendsday, funfridayphoto etc). Are there rules or guidelines posted anywhere about how to use these hashtags & who to tag? 8y
MrBook Not really. They've just kind of come about organically, like #TBT has on FB. And I for one am glad you're on, as I enjoy your postings 😁👍🏻👌🏻. 8y
TK-421 @MrBook Thank you! 8y
RealLifeReading I think #recommendsday and #funfridayphoto pretty much came via @Liberty so you could always tag her 8y
RealLifeReading Also you're welcome! It's always exciting to see what people post with these prompts I've come up with! 8y
23 likes5 comments
quote
TK-421
On Bullshit | Harry G. Frankfurt
post image

2 likes1 stack add