Publications

Publication details [#61113]

Carson, Thomas L. 2016. Frankfurt and Cohen on bullshit, bullshiting, deception, lying, and concern with the truth of what one says. Pragmatics & Cognition 23 (1) : 53–67.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Place, Publisher
John Benjamins
Journal DOI
10.1075/pc

Annotation

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. This paper offers counterexamples to all three claims. By way of defending this counterexamples, it examines Cohen’s distinction between bullshiting and bullshit and argues that the examples are indeed cases of bullshiting that Frankfurt’s analysis is intended to cover. The 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.