Harry Frankfurt Quotes


The fact about himself that the liar hides is that he is attempting to lead us away from a correct apprehension of reality; we are not to know that he wants us to believe something he supposes to be false. The fact about himself that the bullshitter hides, on the other hand, is that the truth-values of his statements are of no central interest to him . . . 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.


Citations

Frankfurt, Harry G. On Bullshit. Princeton University Press, 2005, pp. 54-55.

Related Quotes

Armstrong observed that the notion was not original with him but with Edmund Burke. See {610721}.


Harry Frankfurt
Harry Frankfurt
  • Born: May 29, 1929
  • Nationality: American
  • Profession: Philosopher

Harry Gordon Frankfurt is an American philosopher. He is professor emeritus of philosophy at Princeton University, where he taught from 1990 until 2002. Frankfurt has also taught at Yale University, Rockefeller University, and Ohio State University.