Frankfurt and Cohen on bullshit, bullshiting, deception, lying, and concern with the truth of what one says
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20484382 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thomas L Carson (Loyola University Chicago, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 53-67 |
| Publication date | 2016-09-29 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Pragmatics & Cognition (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0929-0907 • E-ISSN: 1569-9943 |
| Publisher | John Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL) |
| DOI | 10.1075/pc.23.1.03car |
| OpenAlex | W2527034179 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 13 |
| References cited | 7 |
This paper addresses the following three claims that Frankfurt makes about the concept of bullshit: 1. Bullshit requires the intention to deceive others. 2. Bullshit does not constitute lying (bullshit is “short of lying”). 3. The essence of bullshit is lack of concern with the truth of what one says. I offer counterexamples to all three claims. By way of defending my counterexamples, I examine Cohen’s distinction between bullshiting and bullshit and argue that my examples are indeed cases of bullshiting that Frankfurt’s analysis is intended to cover. My examples of bullshitters who are very concerned to say only things that are true show that Frankfurt is mistaken in claiming that the “essence” of bullshit is lack of concern with the truth of what one says
Counterexample · Deception · Epistemology · Lying · Sociology · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Mathematics · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social Psychology · War, Ethics, and Justification
Aspects of a theory of bullshit
The incidence and context of vulgar language in peer-reviewed scientific literature
What's Wrong with Bullshit
Large language models and their big bullshit potential
Se le lettere e la dottrina frutta mai nulla, ciò è in virtù non della verità, ma dell’impostura”. Sulla fertilità concettuale e altri aspetti rivelatori delle Bullshit come Dissoi Logoi
Bullshit, trust, and evidence
On bullshit and lies
Continuité et ruptures chez Cohen. À propos d’un livre de Nicholas Vrousalis
A Multi-national Analysis of the Relationship Between Assimilation and Bullshit
Children’s endorsement of prosocial lies according to content and recipient knowledge
Why not everyone can afford to be a bullshitter
Ambiguous specificity
The weaponization of language
| Citations per year | 1.3 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2016 - 2026 (11) |
| Highly cited | No |