<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Dear colleagues and friends,<br class=""><div class=""><font color="#5856d6" class=""><br class=""></font>Happy New Year to everyone!<br class=""><font color="#5856d6" class=""><br class=""></font>The 2020-21 WKAP season will continue with a talk by:<br class=""><font color="#5856d6" class=""><br class=""></font><b class="">Romy Jaster</b> (Humboldt Universität Berlin)<br class=""><font color="#5856d6" class=""><br class=""></font>on Wednesday 20 January 2021, <b class="">16.45 – 18.45h</b> (virtual conference room) <br class=""><font color="#5856d6" class=""><br class=""></font><b class="">Bullshit, Norms, and Politics</b><br class=""><font color="#5856d6" class=""><br class=""></font>In the talk, I will present a novel account of bullshit. On the view I will put forward, an assertion is bullshit iff the speaker is indifferent to the norms of assertion prevailing in a context. This can be read as either a rejection or a specification of Frankfurt’s characterization of bullshit. According to Frankfurt, the hallmark of bullshit is the speaker’s indifference to the truth. I’ll argue, first, that Frankfurt’s characterization is false if „indifference to the truth“ is understood to mean „indifference to the truth value of the utterance“. Secondly, I’ll argue that the bullshitter’s indifference is best understood as being directed towards norms of assertion: assert only what you know, what you have evidence for, what you believe. Third, I’ll argue that which of these norms prevails is a matter of context, so that whether an assertion is bullshit turns out to be a matter of context as well. Having established this account of bullshit, I will go on to argue against the popular idea (also put forward by Frankfurt) that a bullshitter necessarily intends to deceive her audience about her indifference. While true in some cases, this understanding of bullshit overlooks the existence of what I call „ostentative bullshit“, i.e. bullshit that carries its indifference to the norms of assertion on its sleeve. That is unfortunate, because acknowledging ostentative bullshit is vital to understanding how bullshit has been utilized in political communication in recent years. <br class=""><font color="#5856d6" class=""><br class=""></font><b class="">IMPORTANT</b>: The talk will take place in a virtual conference room (on Zoom). If you would like to attend, please send an email to Sandrine Klot (<a href="mailto:alexandra.klot@univie.ac.at" class="">alexandra.klot@univie.ac.at</a>) by Tuesday, Jan 19th, she will send you the link.<br class=""><font color="#5856d6" class=""><br class=""><span class=""><br class=""></span></font>Still to come in WKAP 2020-21:<br class=""><font color="#5856d6" class=""><br class=""></font>17 March 2021<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Jenny Saul (University of Waterloo)<br class="">21 April 2021<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Eran Tal (McGill)<br class="">26 May 2021<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Katherine Ritchie (UC Irvine)<br class="">16 June 2021<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Seth Yalcin (UC Berkeley)<br class=""><font color="#5856d6" class=""><br class=""></font>Wiener Kolloquium Analytische Philosophie<br class="">Details: <a href="https://wkap.phl.univie.ac.at/" class="">https://wkap.phl.univie.ac.at/</a><br class=""><font color="#5856d6" class=""><br class=""></font>–––––––––––––––––––––<br class="">Max Kölbel<br class=""><font color="#5856d6" class=""><br class=""></font>Institut für Philosophie<br class="">Universität Wien<br class="">Universitätsstraße 7 (NIG)<br class="">1010 Wien<br class="">Austria<br class=""><font color="#5856d6" class=""><br class=""></font>Tel: +43 1 4277 46470<br class=""><font color="#5856d6" class=""><br class=""></font><a href="mailto:max.koelbel@univie.ac.at" class="">max.koelbel@univie.ac.at</a></div></body></html>