Summer Series No.6b - Hannah Arendt on Lying in Politics

Hannah Arendt — Lying in Politics Wed 12 August Written in the immediate wake of the Pentagon Papers, this is Arendt's diagnosis of how deception works in modern government - the systematic defactualisation of policy-makers who ended up believing their own stories. She ties truth-telling to freedom - the same imaginative capacity that lets us lie is also what lets us act in the world and to change it. This 1971 paper is from the Vietnam era - will it cast any light on the political lies surrounding more recent conflicts? Who are we? We're a reading group that welcomes all - young, old, completely new to philosophy or well versed, from keen students to those who've never darkened the door of a lecture room. We read both long & short texts, but you don't need to join at the very start of our longer reads - you can come along at any stage of the journey. Our conversations are lively, wide-ranging & respectful. We usually head to the pub to continue the discussion after our meetings.