Question

Philosophy

Frankfurt

1. Accdng to Frankfurt, the bull-shitter and the liar

(a) Are similar: both misrepresent themselves as truth-tellers

(b) Are different: the liar, but not the BSer, hides his attempt to mislead us away from the truth

(c) Are different: the bullshitter, but not the liar, hides her indifference to veridical considerations

(d) None of the above

(e) All of the above

2. Accdng to Frankfurt, bull-“sessioners” and bull-shitters

(a) Are similar: both are unconstrained by a concern with the truth

(b) Are different: only the latter pretends to be concerned with the truth

(c) Both A and B

(d) Neither A nor B: both are the same and different, but for other reasons

(e) Both C and D

3. Accdng to Frankfurt, the connection between bullshitting and bluffing is closer than that between bullshitting and lying because

(a) lying but not bluffing is a mode of deception

(b) bluffing but not lying is a matter of falsity

(c) bullshitting is not false but phony

(d) all of the above

(e) none of the above

4. For Frankfurt, one response to the cultural proliferation of BS and the skepticism precipitating it, is to retreat from the ideal of correctness to the ideal of sincerity. Yet F thinks this move is itself bullshit, because

a. it supposes we can be correct about ourselves, while supposing nothing else can be

b. it supposes that being correct has something to do with being sincere

c. it supposes that being sincere has something to do with being correct

d. it supposes we can know ourselves only with the aid of therapy

e. all of the above

Answer 1

Answer 1 - (e) all of the above

Both bullshitters and liars want other people to believe that they are telling the truth. Liars are deceptive. They know the truth but attempt to hide it so that they could mislead us whereas the bullshiters just dont care about the truth

Answer 2 - (a) are similar; both are unconstrained by a concern with truth

Bull sessioning involves informal discussions on topics such as sex, politics, religion etc. In discussions like these, people generally make statements not because they believe it to to be true, rather they make these statements just to convey what is on their minds.

Answer 3 -(c) bullshitting is not false but phony

Lying and bluffing both are deceiving. Lying is a matter of falsity whereas bluffing is faking or phony. So, bullshitting is more like bluffing.

Answer 4 - i think it is (c) it supposes that being sincere has something to do with being correct.

Being true to ourselves while discarding what is true and what is not because we are being sincere about how we feel it is a bullshit in itself