A large Miocene coprolite from South Carolina Cogito ergo sum Logic and rhetoric Key articles * Logical fallacy * Syllogism * Argument General logic * Necessary and sufficient conditions * Appeal to consequences * False dilemma * Ultimate end * Masked man fallacy * Hyperbole Bad logic * Circular reasoning * Two wrongs make a right * Overprecision * Pathos gambit * Bait-and-switch * Silent Majority v \- t \- e Not to be confused with the sceptical infotainment show Penn & Teller: Bullshit!. “”Bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are. —Harry Frankfurt Bullshit (also known as bollocks in the UK), often shortened to BS, is nonsensical claptrap, or words without any particular connection to reality. Bullshit may be used as a means of obfuscation, or it may simply be a way to pass time or fill space on a page. There's a lot of it, and it is often an indicator that someone is trying to mislead and/or they don't know what they are talking about. According to programmer Alberto Brandolini:[1] “”The amount of energy necessary to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it. Damn straight. ## Contents * 1 Bullshitting * 2 Bullshit and philosophy * 3 Bullshit! * 4 -isms * 5 Real bullshit * 6 How to tell if you believe in bullshit * 7 Academic qualifications explained * 8 See also * 9 External links * 10 Bibliography * 11 References ## Bullshitting[edit] “”If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit! —Unknown (not W.C. Fields) Bullshitting is, in a way, an art form. It's not exactly lying, as when you're bullshitting, you may in fact be telling the truth in a completely slanted or useless form, or you may simply be saying nothing at all. Bullshitting on the Internet is becoming easier due to the prevalence of search engines like Google, wikis such as Wikipedia, Conservapedia, and RationalWiki, video services such as YouTube, and social media. Someone posting on the internet has more than enough time between posts to type whatever they want to talk about into Google or Wikipedia and appear as an immediate genius to others reading the post. The drawback to this is that everyone can do it, so someone with a genuine knowledge of a subject can still tend to win out. (Thank goodness!) One common way of Bullshitting is writing jargon or gobbledygook to reach the word count on an essay. ## Bullshit and philosophy[edit] It's comin' 'round the bend… “”Dole office clerk: "What work do you do?" Comicus: "I'm a standup philosopher." Clerk: "Oh. A bullshit artist." Comicus: (grumble) Clerk: "Did you bullshit anyone this week?" Comicus: "No!" Clerk: "Did you try to bullshit anyone this week?" Comicus: "Yes!" —Mel Brooks (comicus) and Bea Arthur (clerk), History of the World, Part I, at a Roman unemployment office[2] Philosopher Harry Frankfurt, in his essay On Bullshit, attempts a rigorous philosophical definition of bullshit. For Frankfurt, this consists of drawing a sharp distinction between a bullshitter and a liar; the difference being that a liar cares enough about the truth to state known falsehoods — or, at a minimum, respects reality enough to feel a need to evade it. A bullshitter, on the other hand, does not care about whether statements are true or false, because some other goal is paramount — and truth is a secondary consideration, if it is granted any relevance at all. "Liars at least acknowledge that it matters what is true. By virtue of this," Frankfurt writes, "bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are."[3] A common claim among neo-Nazis is that the Holocaust never happened, that many millions of people purportedly killed in Eastern Europe were in fact not killed, that this massacre was a fabrication of Allied propagandists. Now this is a factual claim, of which demonstrating the truth value is quite possible. And, it being demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that these people actually were killed, neo-Nazis have become roundly recognized as liars when it comes to this topic. The New Republic's Senior Editor, Jeet Heer, applied Frankfurt's thesis to Donald Trump to demonstrate that, contrary to common and frequent accusations, Trump is not a liar. Rather, he's a "bullshit artist." Heer writes that Trump would take us to "a post-truth world" in which "subjectivity is all, where reality is simply what he says." [4] Which, of course, would be total bullshit. ## Bullshit![edit] See the main article on this topic: Penn & Teller: Bullshit! Penn & Teller: Bullshit! is a skeptical television show on the Showtime network hosted by magicians Penn & Teller. The original series concentrated on debunking crank ideas from ESP to alternative medicine. While generally well-received by the skeptical community, it has been criticized for the presenters' tendency to let their libertarian politics interfere with their rationalist message (for example, with the episodes "Prostitution" and "Drugs"), as well as their poor fact-checking (for instance, misquoting Thomas Jefferson).[5] Penn and Teller should've stuck to making rabbits appear out of hats, instead of making Ayn Rand quotes appear on teenagers' Facebook profiles. Later series concentrated less on actual crank practices, and more on concepts such as "family values" or "profanity", although some basic crank-refuting remained, such as episodes on cryptozoology and New Age "Medicine". ## -isms[edit] There are bullshit terms tossed around by those who don't like the way reality actually works. These are generally terms which have a real base word, but adds the suffix "-ism" to express that the idea must be a philosophical or religious notion. Such isms include "scientism", "Darwinism", "transgenderism", and "evolutionism". Such terms can on rare occasions be used legitimately within the field of study, but when someone starts using such terms to attack mainstream scholarship, they are snarl words and usually full of bullshit. ## Real bullshit[edit] Bullshit is also the solid waste material from Bos taurus (cattle) of the male gender. It is not nice to step in, but makes good fertilizer. It is often compared to money in that it can be beneficial to spread it thinly over a large area, but highly toxic (not to mention disgusting) when too much is concentrated in one place. This usage differs from the metaphorical usage discussed above in that metaphorical bullshit, while toxic in high concentrations, is toxic in low concentrations as well. Genuine bovine bullshit figures prominently as an ingredient, reagent, and fuel in Ayurvedic medicine as well. Polite euphemisms for bullshit, in the literal or figurative sense, include "bovine feces", "bovine excrement", "bovine scat", and "bovine stool", the last two of which even preserves the initials. Another euphemism for it is "cow patties" or "cow pies" (not to be confused with moose turd pies).[6] It is also used in third world countries as a cheap source of fuel for fires. It's necessary that it be made extremely dry by laying it out in the sun. In Rwanda, dried cow dung (presumably from either gender of cattle) is used in the traditional art form of imigongo. During the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, the art form was nearly lost. ## How to tell if you believe in bullshit[edit] See the main article on this topic: Scientific method ## Academic qualifications explained[edit] See the main article on this topic: Alternative Medicine Education A urolite (fossilized urine stream) * BS -- bullshit. * MS -- more shit. * PhD -- piled higher and deeper. * MD -- much deeper. * Dr -- dilated rectum. * Ed. D -- Educated but dumb * See also anti-intellectualism, anti-science, credentialism, and professor of nothing * Scatology or coprology -- in biology, the study of feces; in paleontology, the study of some really old shit: coprolites and urolites; in literature, the study of the obscene. ## See also[edit] | For those of you in the mood, RationalWiki has a fun article about shit. | | For those of you in the mood, RationalWiki has a fun article about Bullshit. | * Argumentum ex culo * Ben Stein * Creationism * Deepity * Fake news * Feces therapy * Management speak * No Bullshit — the falsely named alt-right YouTube channel * Technobabble ## External links[edit] * "6 Subtle Ways The News Media Disguises Bullshit As Fact", Cracked * How to Detect Bullshit, Scott Berkun * High-Minded Bullshit, Pop Matters * Brandolini’s law, Ordre Spontané * Calling Bullshit a video course in bullshit detection by Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West of the University of Washington Information School ## Bibliography[edit] * Frankfurt, Harry G., On Bullshit, Princeton University Press, 2005, ISBN 0691122946. * Law, Stephen. Believing Bullshit: How Not to Get Sucked into an Intellectual Black Hole, Prometheus, 2011, ISBN 1616144114. * Penny, Laura.Your Call Is Important to Us: The Truth About Bullshit, Crown, 2005, ISBN 1400081033. ## References[edit] 1. ↑ The 'bullshit asymmetry' (The original referrer of the concept is unknown, but it alludes to Jonathan Swift and Mark Twain. Mike the Mad Biologist made note of an "asymmetric advantage of bullshit" in 2009, while an Italian blogger also postulated the so-called "teoria della montagna di merda" — which in turn sounds very similar to Bullshit Mountain. Brandolini considers it a corollary of the contributions of Daniel Kahneman.) 2. ↑ Unemployment Insurance History Of The World by cujofriend (Jun 24, 2008) YouTube. 3. ↑ Description of On Bullshit at Princeton University Press 4. ↑ https://newrepublic.com/article/124803/donald-trump-not-liar 5. ↑ As seen here. 6. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zb1qsVqjwg v \- t \- e Articles about logical fallacies Informal fallacies: | Appeal to tradition • Appeal to novelty • Appeal to nature • Argument from morality • Argumentum ad martyrdom • Big words • Certum est quia impossibile est • Morton's fork • Friend argument • Exception that proves the rule • Extended analogy • Hindsight bias • Race card • Moralistic fallacy • Release the data • Gish Gallop • Terrorism-baiting • Uncertainty tactic • Greece-baiting • Ham Hightail • Red-baiting • Gore's Law • Nazi analogies • Mistaking the map for the territory • Red herring • Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur • Presentism • Sunk cost • Two wrongs make a right • Flying carpet fallacy • My enemy's enemy • Appeal to ancient wisdom • Danth's Law • Argumentum ad lunam • Balance fallacy • Golden hammer • Loaded question • Escape to the future • Word magic • Spider-Man fallacy • Sanctioning the devil • Appeal to mystery • Informal fallacy • Common sense • Post-designation • Hyperbole • Relativist fallacy • Due diligence • Straw man • Good old days • Appeal to probability • Infinite regress • Circular reasoning • Media was wrong before • سفسطه‌ی حد وسط • پاسخ کورتیر • کلمات قلمبه سلمبه • تقلیل به هیتلر • دوگانگی مرتن • Is–ought problem • Ad iram • Just asking questions • 稻草人谬误 • Pink-baiting • Appeal to faith • Appeal to fear • Appeal to bias • Appeal to confidence • Appeal to consequences • Appeal to emotion • Appeal to flattery • Appeal to gravity • Appeal to hate • Argument from omniscience • Argument from silence • Argumentum ad baculum • Argumentum ad fastidium • Association fallacy • Broken window fallacy • Category mistake • Confounding factor • Counterfactual fallacy • Courtier's Reply • Damning with faint praise • Definitional fallacies • Equivocation • Fallacy of accent • Fallacy of accident • Fallacy of amphiboly • Gambler's fallacy • Imprecision fallacy • Moving the goalposts • Nirvana fallacy • Overprecision • Pathos gambit • Pragmatic fallacy • Quote mining • Argumentum ad sarcina inserta • Science doesn't know everything • Slothful induction • Spotlight fallacy • Style over substance • Toupee fallacy • Genuine but insignificant cause • Argument from incredulity • Appeal to age • Argumentum ad nauseam • Phantom distinction • Appeal to common sense • Apelación a la fe • Argumentum ad hysteria • | Ad hoc: | No True Scotsman • Moving the goalposts • Escape hatch • Handwave • Special pleading • Slothful induction • Nirvana fallacy • God of the gaps • PIDOOMA • Ad hoc • Tone argument • | Arguments from ignorance: | Science doesn't know everything • Argument from incredulity • Argument from silence • Toupee fallacy • Appeal to censorship • Science was wrong before • Holmesian fallacy • Argument from omniscience • Willful ignorance • Argument from ignorance • | Causation fallacies: | Post hoc, ergo propter hoc • Correlation does not imply causation • Wrong direction • Counterfactual fallacy • Regression fallacy • Gambler's fallacy • Post hoc, ergo propter hoc (español) • Denying the antecedent • Genuine but insignificant cause • | Circular reasoning: | Infinite regress • Argument by assertion • Argumentum ad dictionarium • Appeal to faith • Circular reasoning • Self-refuting idea • Apelación a la fe • | Emotional appeals: | Appeal to fear • Appeal to emotion • Appeal to confidence • Deepity • Argumentum ad baculum • Appeal to shame • Appeal to flattery • Tone argument • Appeal to money • Argumentum ad fastidium • Appeal to gravity • Appeal to consequences • Loaded language • Style over substance • Appeal to pity • Appeal to hate • Pathos gambit • Apelación a la piedad • | Fallacies of ambiguity: | Fallacy of accent • Equivocation • Fallacy of amphiboly • Quote mining • Fallacy of ambiguity • Moral equivalence • Scope fallacy • Suppressed correlative • Not as bad as • Etymology • Continuum fallacy • Wronger than wrong • Definitional fallacies • Code word • Phantom distinction • Formal fallacies: | Confusion of the inverse • Denying the antecedent • Non sequitur • Affirmative conclusion from a negative premise • Nemmeno sbagliato • Not even wrong • Chewbacca Defense • Affirming a disjunct • Illicit process • Four-term fallacy • Negative conclusion from affirmative premises • Fallacy fallacy • Substituting explanation for premise • Enthymeme • Syllogism • Formal fallacy • Existential assumption • Masked man fallacy • دوراهی اشتباهی • Self-refuting idea • Argument by gibberish • One single proof • Affirming the consequent • False dilemma • Fallacious arguments: | Bumblebee argument • Fatwa envy • Gotcha argument • Hoyle's fallacy • Intuition pump • Logic and Creation • Not Circular Reasoning • Peanut butter argument • Great Beethoven fallacy • Fallacy of unique founding conditions • Evil is the absence of God • Argument from first cause • How do you know? Were you there? • Argument from design • Argument from beauty • Appeal to nature • Solferino fallacy • Religious scientists • Nothing to hide • Argument from fine tuning • Appel à la beauté • Creep shaming • "I used to be an atheist" • Atheism as a religion • Argumentum ad populum • Argument from morality • Anti-environmentalism • Appeal to bias • Apophasis • Argumentum ad nauseam • Appeal to censorship • Argumentum ad sarcina inserta • Blaming the victim • Bait-and-switch • Danth's Law • Chewbacca Defense • Canard • DARVO • Demonization • Escape hatch • Friend argument • Everyone is racist • Gish Gallop • Greece-baiting • Gore's Law • Ham Hightail • Just asking questions • Leading question • Loaded language • Linking to authority • Loaded question • Lying by omission • Motte and bailey • Nazi analogies • Moving the goalposts • One single proof • Pink-baiting • One-way hash argument • Pathos gambit • Quote mining • Poisoning the well • Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur • Race card • Red-baiting • Red herring • Release the data • Science was wrong before • Shill gambit • Straw man • Silent Majority • Uncertainty tactic • Style over substance • Terrorism-baiting • Weasel word • What's the harm (logical fallacy) • Whataboutism • تقلیل به هیتلر • Logical fallacy • Pindakaasargument • Envenenar o poço • Banana argument • Canard (português) • Scapegoat • How come there are still monkeys? • Trees cause pollution • Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white • Ontological argument • Conditional fallacies: | Slippery slope • What's the harm (logical fallacy) • Special pleading • Conditional fallacy • On the spot fallacy • Appeal to the minority • Argumentum ad populum • Galileo gambit • Professor of nothing • | Genetic fallacies: | Genetic fallacy • | | Appeals to authority: | Ipse dixit • Appeal to confidence • Argumentum ad populum • Argument from authority • Linking to authority • Silent Majority • Invincible authority • Appeal to celebrity • Ultracrepidarianism • Appeal to the minority • Galileo gambit • Appeal to identity • Weasel word • Professor of nothing • | | Ad hominem: | Ad iram • Argumentum ad cellarium • Bulverism • Poisoning the well • Blaming the victim • Tu quoque • Whataboutism • Nutpicking • Jonanism • Demonization • Argumentum ad hominem (français) • Shill gambit • Appeal to bias • Fallacy of opposition • Association fallacy • Damning with faint praise • Pathos gambit • گزاره‌ی حمله‌ی شخصی • Appeal to identity • Argumentum ad hominem • Nazi analogies • Not an argument • Nothing to hide • Envenenar o poço • Scapegoat • | Imprecision fallacies: | Apex fallacy • Overprecision • Cherry picking • Overgeneralization • Texas sharpshooter fallacy • False analogy • Appeal to fiction • Spotlight fallacy • Pragmatic fallacy • Selection bias • Anecdotal evidence • Category mistake • Nutpicking • Imprecision fallacy • Confounding factor • Fallacy of accident • Neyman's bias • Valid logical methods: | Rapoport's Rules • Negative evidence • Fallacy collections: | SeekFind • Nizkor Project • Fallacy Files • Your Logical Fallacy Is • Logically Fallacious •