On Bullshit

At four by six inches and only 67 pages long, nobody will mistake On Bullshit for a big book. It is narrow, focused, and amusing in an academic sort of way, as its opening passage reveals:

"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. ... In consequence, 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, we have no theory." (p. 1)

In Frankfurt's analysis, "bullshit" is speech whose truth the speaker considers unimportant; that is, the speaker does not care if he or she is lying or telling the truth, only whether the statement advances a particular objective. In Frankfurt's view this is worse than lying, as liars consider the truth to be important even as they avoid it.

On Bullshit derives no small benefit from the naughtiness of its title, but as Frankfurt notes, the phenomenon is worthy of study. His language is straightforward and apparently sincere - though readers should be forgiven for wondering if Frankfurt is bullshitting them. The model of a philosophical essay, with references and examples that range from Wittgenstein to Ezra Pound to Saint Augustine, On Bullshit serves as a gentle and straightforward demystification of the contemporary analytic philosopher's task.