On Bullshit, by Harry G. Frankfurt
On Truth, by Harry G. Frankfurt

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Notes

1. Our own society seems quite prone to believing in several exotic “facts.” According to a 2003 Gallup survey, 68% of Americans said they believe in the devil. Republicans (79%) and self-identified members of the religious right (83%) were the most likely to hold this belief. Roughly half of all Catholics and Protestants surveyed by Gallup in 1990 believed in ESP; nearly as many believed in psychic healing. Fifty-three percent of Catholics and 40% of Protestants professed belief in UFOs. A 1996 Newsweek poll found that 41% of people surveyed believed in astrology. Over a quarter of people surveyed by Gallup in 1994 professed belief in reincarnation and the possibility of communicating with the dead. Of course, we here in the United States may not meet Frankfurt's unstated criteria of health (see Kaminer, 1999).