The liar must have an understanding of the truth. That is why lying requires sharp focus. The liar is inescapably aware of the truth – otherwise, it would be impossible for him to deceive. He must design his falsehood, and decorate it with precision, so that it is mistaken for the truth.
The bullshitter, on the other hand, has much more freedom. His focus is panoramic, rather than specific. He mixes truth and lies together indiscriminately. But this does not imply that the bullshitter requires less talent than the liar. The bullshitter needs to be creative, but it is more an art than a craft, hence the term “bullshit artist.” Lying is far more serious – it needs hard work.
But the liar and the bullshitter are similar in that both act as if they are communicating the truth.
In his essay, “Lying,” St. Augustine distinguishes between eight types of lies. Seven of these types are told because of a goal that is desired. The Eight type of lie is told purely out of a love of deception.
There is a difference between someone who tells a lie and a liar. The former tells a lie unwillingly, while the liar finds immense joy in lying. Augustine notes that liars and “real lies” are rare and extraordinary. Everyone lies from time to time, but a few people are pathological liars – they have developed an obsession with lying.
For most people, if a statement is false, they will not say it. For the liar, it is the opposite, they will take delight in saying it. And for the bullshitter, it is neither a reason in favor nor a reason against.
The liar accepts that there is the authority of the truth, but rejects to obey it. The bullshitter pays no attention to it at all. In that sense, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.
Why is there so much bullshit?
It is not possible to measure precisely how much bullshit exists today, and whether that amount is greater or less than at other times. But one thing that has increased is communication. It may or may not be true that people are more likely to spread bullshit today than in the past, but the means of communication have advanced to such an extent, that it has become far easier to do so. The end result is that the proliferation of bullshit has accelerated to profound heights.
In some cases, bullshit is more probable. For example, when someone is required to talk without knowing what they are talking about, the production of bullshit is inevitable.
This discrepancy is common in public life, where people are frequently impelled— whether by their own propensities or by the demands of others—to speak extensively about matters of which they are to some degree ignorant.
But citizens are not immune either. There is a widespread conviction that it is the responsibility of each citizen in a democracy to conjure up opinions about all topics related to their country. The case is the most severe for the person who thinks of themselves as morally responsible to evaluate the events and conditions in all parts of the world.
Bullshit has other masks too, like the radical skeptics or the “anti-realists” who believe that it is impossible to know what is true and false in an objective sense. These are people who have rejected one form of sincerity for another.
Rather than seeking primarily to arrive at accurate representations of a common world, the individual turns toward trying to provide honest representations of himself. Convinced that reality has no inherent nature, which he might hope to identify as the truth about things, he devotes himself to being true to his own nature. It is as though he decides that since it makes no sense to try to be true to the facts, he must therefore try instead to be true to himself.
But the idea of being true to oneself without ascribing a truth value to external things is impossible. And there is nothing to suggest, contrary to esoteric teachings, that the easiest knowledge one can access is self-knowledge. Human nature is elusive and much less stable than the natures of other things. Therefore, sincerity itself is bullshit.
Source: On Bullshit, Harry Frankfurt