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Tom Lynch: Review: On Bullshit: "grahame lent me his copy of Harry Frankfurt's On Bullshit last week after (football|soccer), and I read it a couple of nights ago. As it is very short it only takes about an hour to wander through.Frankfurt defines bullshit more precisely than before: as communication that is distinguished from truth or lies by the fact that its truth value is of no concern to the communicator. It may still have a purpose - it probably does - but its purpose is unconnected to putting forward a truth or carrying off a deception.It's a cute concept because it gives you a third way of considering the material you read and hear: instead of saying 'that person is lying' or saying 'that person is telling the truth' you can say 'that person is stating propositions to a purpose that is unrelated to their truth.'The book is a major disappointment. After coming up with a good idea Frankfurt does nothing much with it. He writes as if conscious of this, waffling enough to beg the reflexive question 'is this book bullshit by its own definition?' Ironic self-reference is one of several copout speculative devices by which he extends the text. Another is asking rhetorical questions which are never answered, such as 'is there more bullshit nowadays than there was at earlier times?'The redefinition of 'bullshit' works and fits compatibly with the ordinary uses of the ter"