My favorite part of Harry Frankfurt’s essay *On Bullshit* is a tiny piece of the larger argument—an early part where he describes “the bull session.” I put this passage on every single one of my syllabi. It is the rare moment when HF admits bullshit may possess some real value.

What he notes is that a bull session is an unusual social and conversational space where participants can address very sensitive topics (sex, religion, etc.) and feel out—through talking!—their own positions on them. As HF notes, a bull session is both deadly serious and...

...also not “for real.” That is, the ground rules of a bull session allow for some freedom from responsibility—some recognition that a person’s comments do not necessarily represent their true commitments, their innermost essence, or whatever. It is a space of suspended judgment.

The bull session is a space where the possibility to “shoot the shit” actually fosters growth & meaningful exchange on difficult topics—growth and exchange that are not possible in spaces of full accountability. It’s a venue where frivolity & deadly seriousness are indissoluble.

It’s also a fragile space. The rules need constant reenforcing & moderation so they aren’t abused by the kinds of participants who would use license to showboat or harm others. But with care & with everyone’s consent it can be magical and freeing in ways no other spaces can be.

For me, a good lit classroom is exactly that—a lively & surprising bull session, where the distance of the literary texts facilitates these kinds of playful but deadly serious engagements with hugely important issues. There are few safe venues for this, & many students crave it.

The work of the bull session is also present in some forms of literary criticism. That’s the old cliché about the essay-as-experiment. There’s a murkiness to this world of confused & relaxed rules. But it also enables kinds of intellectual liveliness you don’t get anywhere else.

I think this kind of classroom space & writing can coexist w/ more well-defined rule-based modes of inquiry. Frankfurt quickly puts the kibosh on it to note how bs-ing is too dangerous to norms of truth/fact. But to me it’s the only part of his essay that lands and lingers.