Margins
On Truth book cover
On Truth
2006
First Published
3.53
Average Rating
101
Number of Pages

Having outlined a theory of bullshit and falsehood, Harry G. Frankfurt turns to what lies beyond them: the truth, a concept not as obvious as some might expect. Our culture's devotion to bullshit may seem much stronger than our apparently halfhearted attachment to truth. Some people (professional thinkers) won't even acknowledge "true" and "false" as meaningful categories, and even those who claim to love truth cause the rest of us to wonder whether they, too, aren't simply full of it. Practically speaking, many of us deploy the truth only when absolutely necessary, often finding alternatives to be more saleable, and yet somehow civilization seems to be muddling along. But where are we headed? Is our fast and easy way with the facts actually crippling us? Or is it "all good"? Really, what's the use of truth, anyway? With the same leavening wit and commonsense wisdom that animates his pathbreaking work "On Bullshit," Frankfurt encourages us to take another look at the truth: there may be something there that is perhaps too plain to notice but for which we have a mostly unacknowledged yet deep-seated passion. His book will have sentient beings across America asking, "The truth—why didn't I think of that?"

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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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