Frankfurt “On Bullshit”
Friday, May 27th, 2005On Bullshit
By Harry G. Frankfurt
Princeton University Press, 2005, 80 pages
The buzz surrounding this book is just a little over the top. It seems like everyone is talking about the book, and it has even been featured on 60 Minutes and The Daily Show. I also saw it discussed in a Financial Times column. I didn’t actually think much about it at the time; I’m notoriously dense when it comes to buzz, hype and popularity. Then my friend bought the book. “How absurd,†I thought, “to spend $9.95 on a tiny little book.†(Plus it’s a university press, so no discounts.) So I one-upped him, and borrowed the book through interlibrary loan. (Remember the library? It was the place where people stole intellectual property before the Internet!) It took about an hour to read all 67 pages of essay.
The basic theme as I see it is: bullshit is bad because it has no relationship to the truth. The bullshitter does not care if statements are true or not. The liar, on the other hand, knows that there is a truth, and by actively trying to deceive us from that truth, at least maintains a relationship with it. And why is there bullshit? People are often supposed to have opinions on everything and people are often called to speak on subjects they are not experts on, both situations that lead to bullshit from a lack of being knowledgeable.
Overall, what does this book actually tell us? You can sell thousands of copies of a serious philosophical essay as long as it’s about a bad word. I have to wonder how many people will actually read it or if it’ll mainly be given as a gag gift. I guess the joke will be on all of those who give it as a gag gift.