They quietly change the rules governing their end of the conversation so that claims about truth and falsity are irrelevant. Rather, bullshitters seek to convey a certain impression of themselves without being concerned about whether anything at all is true. In fact, bullshit need not be untrue at all. He argues that bullshitters misrepresent themselves to their audience not as liars do, that is, by deliberately making false claims about what is true. 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. In other words, as Harry Frankfurt writes, “we have no theory.”įrankfurt, one of the world’s most influential moral philosophers, attempts to build such a theory here. And we lack a conscientiously developed appreciation of what it means to us. We have no clear understanding of what bullshit is, why there is so much of it, or what functions it serves. So the phenomenon has not aroused much deliberate concern. Most people are rather confident of their ability to recognize bullshit and to avoid being taken in by it.
But we tend to take the situation for granted. One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit.
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