The Right to Lie. Truth and Post-Truth in Communication and Citizenship Construction

Abstract

On the one hand, the assumption of every moral and legal system is that man desires his own good and that truth is a good desired by himself. On the other hand, it is known that political lies play an important (and indispensable) role in the exercise of power and the achievement of the common good, and that for this reason many philosophers have recommended and justified them (today and in the past). Faced with this paradox, it is worth asking how citizenship (decision-making and social participation) is built on false information and how citizen values are built on the basis of the rulers’ right to lie. Because the quality of information and the consequent social participation of citizens is essential to any democracy. First, the justification of the lie will be exposed in three great thinkers of Western philosophy (Plato, Machiavelli and Weber); then, the Marxian interpretation will be developed in this respect. And finally, the way in which lies (and the right to lie) affect the communication and construction of citizen values today will be elucidated.