The difference between bullshit and lie

 

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 necessarily false.  “[Bullshit] is produced without concern with the truth, it need not be false. The bullshitter is faking things. But this does not mean that he necessarily gets them wrong.” (par. 10).  It can be true, it is just the bullshitter does not know or care if it is true.

2. A liar has to be concerned with truth in order to lie, “The liar is inescapably concerned with truth-values. In order to invent a lie at all, he must think he knows what is true. And in order to invent an effective lie, he must design his falsehood under the guidance of that truth. ” (par. 12).  Yet a bullshitter does not, “It is impossible for someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth. Producing bullshit requires no such conviction.” (par. 15).

3. Bullshitter has no intent to deceive, whereas liar does.  “Since bullshit need not be false, it differs from lies in its misrepresentational intent. The bullshitter may not deceive us, or even intend to do so, either about the facts or about what he takes the facts to be. What he does necessarily attempt to deceive us about is his enterprise” (par. 13) that is, his real purpose.

4. A liar misrepresents the truth or reality, whereas a bullshitter misrepresents him/herself or what s/he is up to. "His eye is not on the facts at all, . . .  except insofar as they may be pertinent to his interest in getting away with what he says. He does not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose. . . ." (par. 15).  How does a bullshitter misrepresent him/herself?  When s/he is asked to answer a question, s/he makes things up as if s/he is knowledgeable about the subject.  By bullshitting, a bullshitter misrepresents him/herself as a knowledgeable person, but in fact s/he does not know the answer to the question.  

For Frankfurt, "bullshit is a greater enemy to the truth than lies are" (par. 16) because someone who lies still cares to know the truth in order to present its opposite--the falsehood, where a bullshitter completely ignores the truth, and s/he simply does not care.