Think

  The terms "everything," and "everyone," are used carelessly by most people.  Statements that contain them are more than likely bullshit since we cannot know "everyone" or "everything."  The example of bullshit statements are "Everything is saying this," "He knows everything," "Everyone is doing this." we should avoid using these terms.   I asked students to reflect on why they bullshitted in the past, these are the answers: 1. I want to appear smarter (more intelligent, more knowledgeable). 2. I want to fit in with a group. 3. I want to get away with something (such as not reading an assigned text, not preparing for class, etc). Thus, when they bullshitted, their focus is on themselves, on the "I," and have no regard for anyone else or what is true. Thus when they bullshitted, they become very self-centered or selfish.  Moreover, they lack self-confidence, they fear if they didn't bullshit...

  Frankfurt  does not think that it can be attributed to the proliferation of means of communication: " Of course it is impossible to be sure that there is relatively more of it nowadays than at other times. There is more communication of all kinds in our time than ever before, but the proportion that is bullshit may not have increased."    He writes: "Bullshit is unavoidable whenever circumstances require someone to talk without knowing what he is talking about. Thus the production of bullshit is stimulated whenever a person's obligations or opportunities to speak about some topic are more excessive than his knowledge of the facts that are relevant to that topic. This discrepancy is common in public life, where people are frequently impelled - whether by their own propensities or by the demands of others - to speak extensively about matters of which they are to some degree ignorant." Frankfurt is not saying that bullshit is inevitable or unavoidable , oth...

  So what is a bullshitter, and what is bullshit?   1. Bullshit is something someone makes up. 2. When the person makes up something, s/he does not know or care if it is true. 3. A person who says things mindlessly (without thinking) is a bullshitter. 4. A person who repeats what s/he hears or reads mindlessly, and does not care or know if it is true. Frankfurt clearly connects "bullshit" with excrement, and we find "excrement" or "shit" repulsive.  Yet we have seen some people are proud of being an expert "bullshitter" because their bullshits got them what they want.  But they fail to connect bullshit with excrement, and cannot imagine themselves to be a "shit container."  If they do, they won't go around and proudly declare "I am a shit container."    Frankfurt  also discusses the difference between bullshit and lie, and between a bullshitter and a liar.   1. Unlike a lie that is false, bullshit is not neces...

Thus it is important for us to take bullshit seriously, and understand the nature of bullshit.  We need to know what constitutes “bullshit” and reflect on when and why we bullshitted in the past, in order to avoid doing so in the future.  In the excerpt of "on Bullshit," Frankfurt uses Wittgenstein's reaction to Pascal's statement "I feel just like a dog that has been run over" to illustrate the nature of bullshit.  "To the Wittgenstein in Pascal's story, judging from his response, this is just bullshit." (par. 3).  How so?  According to Frankfurt , "because he perceives what Pascal says as being - roughly speaking, for now - unconnected to a concern with the truth. Her statement is not germane to the enterprise of describing reality. She does not even think she knows, except in the vaguest way, how a run-over dog feels. Her description of her own feeling is, accordingly, something that she is merely making up . She concocts it out of wh...