Bullshit

So I'm taking a break from my planned postings, due to a ridiculous amount of work, and the great desire to post the following:

 

I've recently gotten a copy of "Analytic Theology: New Essays in the Philosophy of Theology", edited by Oliver Crisp and Michael Rea. Now, I got the book as a resource, but I'm having an amazing amount of fun with it, most recently with the essay "Theology as a Bull Session" by Randall Rauser.

Apparently, "Bullshit" is an official philosophical term. It even comes in two varieties!

Frankfurtian (intentional) Bullshit: intentionally insincere communication

Cohenian (product) Bullshit: communication that is inherently nonsense

Naturally, Rauser deals with Cohenian Bullshit in the realm of academia, as we give the benefit of the doubt to those who communicate there that they aren't trying to deceive us. He identifies three types:

Unclarifiable Unclarity: something not only un-understandably worded, but done so in such a manner that one cannot explain it properly

Clarifiable Unclarity: something obscurely worded, that could be explained differently and be understood

Irretrievable Speculation: something that cannot possibly be verified as true or not

 

I find that I read, and have read, a lot of the latter Bullshit. Heidegger comes to mind as one who is particularly guilty, as does Moltmann (whom Rauser also accuses of Product Bullshit. Of note is also that Rauser suggests Moltman as the patron saint of the Emerging Church and McLaren, which I found hilarious and rather fitting). This is why I'm committed to clarity (though I'm sure I fail quite spectacularly)!