On Bullshit
"On Bullshit" (2005), by philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt, is an essay that presents a theory of bullshit that defines the concept and analyzes the applications of bullshit in the contexts of communication. Frankfurt determines that bullshit is speech intended to persuade (a.k.a. rhetoric), without regard for truth. The liar cares about the truth and attempts to hide it; the bullshitter doesn't care if what they say is true or false, but rather only cares whether or not their listener is persuaded.[1]
Frankfurt originally published the essay "On Bullshit" in the Raritan Quarterly Review journal in 1986. Nineteen years later, the essay was published as the book On Bullshit (2005), which proved popular among lay readers; the book appeared for 27 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list,[2] and was discussed on the television show The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,[3], as well as in an interview with a representative of the publisher, Princeton University Press.[4][5] On Bullshit (2005) served as the basis for Professor Frankfurt's follow-up book On Truth (2006).
Publication history
- "On Bullshit." Raritan Quarterly Review 6, no. 2 (Fall 1986).[6]
- "On Bullshit." The Importance of What We Care About: Philosophical Essays. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. ISBN 0-521-33324-5 (hardback), ISBN 0-521-33611-2 (paperback).
- On Bullshit. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-691-12294-6.
See also
References
- ↑ On Bullshit (2005), by Harry Frankfurt. p. 61.
- ↑ Wallace, Niamh (2005-10-11), On College, Bullshit, and Love, UWM Post, retrieved 2008-08-11
- ↑ Frankfurt, Harry G. (2005-03-14), The Daily Show
- ↑ Frankfurt, Harry G. (January 2005), "On Bullshit (Part 1; 6m12s): A Conversation with Harry G. Frankfurt", youtube.com, Princeton University Press, retrieved July 16, 2017. Interview conducted by Ben Tate, Director of Subsidiary Rights, Princeton University Press
- ↑ Frankfurt, Harry G. (January 2005), "On Bullshit (Part 2; 5m20s): A Conversation with Harry G. Frankfurt", youtube.com, Princeton University Press, retrieved July 16, 2017. Interview conducted by Ben Tate, Director of Subsidiary Rights, Princeton University Press
- ↑ Frankfurt, Harry G. "On Bullshit, Raritan Quarterly Review, Volume 06 Number 2". Raritan Quarterly Review.
Further reading
- Holt, Jason. (ed.). The Daily Show and Philosophy: Moments of Zen in the Art of Fake News. (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2007) ISBN 978-1-4051-6314-9, pp. 133–156.
- Pfeifer, Karl. Review of On Bullshit, Dialogue 45 (June 2006), pp. 617–620.