Economies of Truth: Rumors, Fake News, and Other Lies

While gossip and calumny have been circulating since time immemorial, they probably gained a renewed importance in the recent era of what is often described as “post-truth politics.” But what does “post-” exactly mean in “post-truth,” if lies and deceits have always been an integral part of the exercise of power? Our seminar will intertwine two threads: 1) A genealogy of pseudology that includes Nietzsche’s “Truth and Lie in an Extra-Moral Sense,” Hannah Arendt’s “Truth and Politics,” Jacques Derrida’s “History of the Lie: Prolegomena,” Michel Foucault’s notion of parrēsia, and Gilles Deleuze’s readings of the “powers of the false.” 2) A series of guest lectures that will introduce current perspectives on rumors, fake news, nihilism, and conspiracy theories.