| Abstract: | A number of leading academicians and practicing professionals in the fields of instructional and human performance technology (HPT) have observed over recent years a disturbing pattern of ideas and propositions being advocated by academics and practitioners alike that do not always ring true. At best some of these propositions are misleading, and at worst they are disingenuous. In some cases these propositions are deemed nonsense. In trying to understand this perpetuation of nonsense in instructional and performance technologies, we have found and use for reference a small book by Harry G. Frankfurt titled On Bullshit. This 2005 publication traces the meanings of BS and argues that it is a form of falsehood that is different than lying. Frankfurt disdains nonsense talk and relates it to the now popular concept of a bull session. We hope that you, like us, find Frankfurt's treatise on BS useful in understanding and differentiating between sense and nonsense in the fields of instructional and performance technologies. On Bullshit (2005; 67 pages; ISBN 10:0691122946; hardback $9.95) is published by Princeton University Press. |
