ENGL 6555 - [History of the Lie]

(crosslisted) COML 6158

Fall. Next Offered: 2020-2021. 4 credits. Student option grading.

C. Caruth.

In world that has been described as “post-factual,” the status of truth—and of lying—in understanding history and politics have become more urgent than ever. This course will follow the trajectory of Jacques Derrida’s “History of the Lie” in order to understand the relation between lying and history across time. What might it mean to understand history as the history “of” the lie? Special attention will be focused on Hannah Arendt, who argued that the “modern” lie marks a new phase in political and historical unfolding, associated with what she calls “image-making.” Authors include Aristotle, Plato, Augustine, Kant, Nietzsche, Koryré, Arendt, Austin, and Derrida, along with commentaries on lying and “fake news” at the center of current political debate.