Margins
On Bullshit book cover
On Bullshit
Anniversary Edition
2025
First Published
96
Number of Pages

Over one million copies sold worldwide The international and #1 New York Times bestseller The anniversary edition of the acclaimed book that reveals why bullshit is more dangerous than lying One of the most prominent features of our world is that there is so much bullshit. Yet we have no clear understanding of what bullshit is, how it’s different from lying, what purposes it serves, and what it means. In his acclaimed bestseller On Bullshit, which was featured on The Daily Show and 60 Minutes, Harry Frankfurt, who was one of the world’s most influential moral philosophers, explores one of the most serious problems of our politics and our world. This twentieth anniversary edition features a postscript in which Frankfurt emphasizes that “indifference to the truth is extremely dangerous.” With his characteristic combination of philosophical acuity, psychological insight, and wry humor, Frankfurt argues that bullshitters misrepresent themselves to their audience not as liars do—that is, by deliberately making false claims about what’s true. Rather, bullshitters seek to convey a certain impression of themselves without being concerned about whether anything at all is true. They quietly change the rules governing the conversation so that claims about truth and falsity are irrelevant. Although bullshit can take innocent forms, excessive indulgence in it can eventually undermine the bullshitter’s capacity to tell the truth in a way that lying doesn’t. Liars at least acknowledge that the truth matters. Because of this, Frankfurt says, “bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.” Remarkably prescient and insightful, On Bullshit is a small book that explains a great deal about our time.

Author

Harry G. Frankfurt
Harry G. Frankfurt
Author · 8 books
Harry Gordon Frankfurt, Ph.D. (Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University, 1954; M.A., Johns Hopkins, 1953; B.A., Johns Hopkins, 1949), was a Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Princeton University. He previously served as chair of the philosophy department at Yale University, 1978–1987, where he was also a lecturer in the School of Law, 1981–89. He was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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