Prepare to have your mind blown and your perspectives shattered: this seminar will transform everything you thought you knew about the world… In his essay "On Bullshit" (1986), Harry Frankfurt described the widespread phenomenon of “bullshit" as the "most salient feature of our time." But what is this phenomenon of misleading speech referred to as bullshit? How can bullshitting be distinguished from lying and deceiving? What are the bullshitter's goals? Who is particularly susceptible to falling for bullshit? And how can bullshit be recognized, exposed, or even overcome? We will explore various philosophical proposals that attempt to conceptually capture the activity of bullshitting and the mental state of those who engage in it. Moreover, we will address suggestions from the psychological debate related to the recipients of bullshit, focusing on the susceptibility to and the detection of bullshit. The focus of the seminar is on interdisciplinary discussion of the weekly seminar readings.
