Summary Of Sokolowski's On Bullshit

Society comes in contact with bullshit everyday, whether it be in television commercials, a face- to- face conversation, or even political news and speeches. In the essay “On Bullshit” a former Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University, Harry Frankhurt talks about the many concepts of bullshit from his own perspective. To his credibility, Frankhurt uses specific examples and definitions from various sources along with detailed observations for his main argument on what the definition of bullshit is. Therefore I believe when he brings in these aspects it makes his essay very effective.

After reading the paper On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt (Ciulla, Martin & Solomon, 2014, p.60) I began to wonder what type of person would be the best at bullshitting or a god of bullshit. Would it be a politician with their campaign promises, a parent with their benign lies about childhood fantasies such as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny or would it be someone who feels no remorse for their actions and would need to rely on bullshit to fit in. Based on this article alone I could not come up with a satisfactory answer.

An example would be during the Nazi’s reign in World War Two where the Jews were persecuted by Nazi Germany. Benevolent and intrepid neighbours would often choose to protect their Jewish friends through weaving elaborate webs of falsehood and truth. They had to live under the constant threat of death hanging over their heads, wondering if today was the day that the Gestapo would come banging on the door, carrying loaded guns at the ready. They must live the lies that they tell day and night; their truths buried deep underneath layers of deceit. Yet without these cozenage, more Jews would have been found and killed and the goal of Hitler to eradicate this race may have succeeded. Deception during times such as these are

These forms of lying take the attention off the liar by either pushing the blame towards the victim, or seemingly ignore the issue that the lie is covering up. There are other lies that are a combination of other types of lies. For example, delusion, which is the use of excuses to defend lies, is a branch off of dismissal. Ericsson also points out that “groupthink”, which is lying to remain loyal to a community, is a mixture of ignoring facts, omission, and other types of lies written about in the essay.

Lies, they're everywhere, are they worth the trouble? Throughout these three articles, “It’s the truth”, “Honestly tell the truth”, and “Rejecting all lies”, the authors precisely analyze who agrees, and who doesn’t agree with lying, and why. Lying may be the first thing to come to mind when in a bad situation, but does anyone realize how much damage it can cause towards the other person or to the liar themselves?

As many know, we lie to cover up things that we don’t want others to know. Maybe when you were a child you broke your brothers toy and when he confronted you, you lied and said you had no idea who did it, or maybe you completely try to change the subject. In a way, that is what interpersonal deception theory is, it’s an attempt to explain how individuals handle actual deception at the conscious or subconscious level while they are engaged in a face-to-face communication. And Actually This type of deception has 3 aspects such as falsification, concealment, and equivocation.

Frankfurt begins his search for the meaning of bullshit by comparing it to the word “humbug,” and referencing the work The Prevalence of Humbug by Max Black. Black gives the definition of humbug: “deceptive misrepresentation, short of lying, especially by pretentious word or deed, of somebody’s own thoughts, feelings, or attitudes.” (118). By examining the definition of a related term, Frankfurt begins his argument

Ever since birth, people are told about lying and how it is something bad. Lying is projected as something that only can hurt people. Instead the slogan “Honesty is the best policy” is ingrained in their heads so that they are raised up to become honest people. Except not all lying is bad. Mark Twain shows this in his Adventures of Huckleberry Finn where Huck and many others lie throughout the whole novel. In the case of Huck, lying is what saves him and frees him from his grim situations. So lying itself is not that bad if it can save someone's life. This controversy over a good lie and a bad lie connect to the binary of appearances vs reality. As society’s appearance to the outside world is simply a lie to hide the horrors of slavery that

Cultural/Ethnic groups are what make up this great world. In this paper, I will be writing about Native Hawaiians. The depth and knowledge in which I had about the Native Hawaiian before this paper, was very limited, but in my research I found a wide variety of information regarding this cultural group. It is a very complex and beautiful culture. In this paper I will address the history, migration and attending behavior, reflecting skills and relationship skills in the Native Hawaiian culture.

In Cross’s opinion, she believes people are bamboozled by propaganda because they fail to recognize when they experience it (248). The thirteen propaganda methods Cross describes in this essay include the following: Name-Calling, Glittering Generalities, Plain-Folks Appeal, Arguementum Ad Populum (Stroking),

Deception According to Hyman (1989) deception implies that an agent acts or speaks so as to induce a false belief in a target or victim. Deception can occur in everyday life. Whether it is telling someone they look nice or not telling them that they look fat. This is an important process for forming relationships and general social interaction.

ASUS is a Taiwanese multi-national electronics and computer hardware company. Their global headquarters located in Taipei, Taiwan, where the firm originated. This firm has been a trailblazer in the area of electronics, laptops, cell telephones, and most recently robots. The founders of this organization M. Liao, T. Tung, Wayne Tsiah, and Ted Hsu M. Liao previously worked for the Acer Corporation until 1989, when they decided that could create their own products that were more efficient and cost effective. As these fledgling computer engineers chose to chase their dream the first two years of operations made them afraid that they have made the wrong choice.

Let’s say that, we always hear lies everywhere. Lies can hurt other people, and lies can be a joke to have fun with everyone. Lies can also be a way to glossing over the fact. Lies can protect who are telling the lie. Everyone lies, although the ideas of lying to people are wrong, but people still lie about anything in their life. In this essay, it will talk about which ways people will lie and how they lie.

Contemporary criticism reflects the current audiences that are viewing the subject and their mindsets. Early movies specifically needed to know their audiences, as the reception they received could make or break actors, directors, and even entire studios. However, a movie viewed in modern times can have a completely different effect on the viewer than the original intended audience. Specifically movies, such as the ones shown here, that are based on historical events. In the order of the years they were released, Jezebel, Drums Along the Mohawk, and Unconquered, all focus on romantic relationships, and the different historical periods they are dropped into. Each of these movies take a drastically different look at their characters, despite their similar, specific, genre of romantic historical fiction. Each review of the movies echoes this, with analysis of the characters, historic accuracy, and just overall how compelling the story is.

Yet, it still serves the effect like John Stuart Mill’s concept of Freedom of Speech, preventing the truth loses its power and meaning (Mill, 1869). As such, the new idea generated from an argumentative discussion might be true, even it is not, perhaps it is partially true that helps to get closer to the real truth of the discussed issue. In addition, even the new idea generated from the dialogues of two individuals is not true at all, it still gives meaning to the truth and prevent the truth from becoming an unchallenged dogma. As a result, it is important for us remain practising the Socratic method to facilitate ourselves to understand more about the world, especially it helps to keep the truth