Hazugság, önámítás és lelkiismeret mint politikai fenomén

Laczkó Sándor: Hazugság, önámítás és lelkiismeret mint politikai fenomén. In: Sipos József-emlékkötet. pp. 147-155. (2023)

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Abstract

Does the problem of lying and self-deception and then conscience confronted with lying bear any ethical and political significance? The aim of this essay is to analyse the relation of lies, self-deception and conscience to political morality. The article argues that the oversimplifying statement ‘the essence of politics is lying’ is in fact false. If we consider politics as the art of deception, and not as a discourse on the common good, then our erroneous premise is that all political scheming is entirely independent from us, and we have helplessly fallen victims to the lies provided by politics. However, in fact our (false) hopes, illusions, (unfounded) desires and expectations, and (real or imagined) fears generate all the mendacious acts in politics. How does a liar’s conscience perceive their own lies? What is conscience anyway, always catching us in the act? It reproaches us tactlessly (Did I do right?) or it condemns us unappealably (I did wrong). It accuses and defends. Paradoxically, it accuses to defend. This article also argues that self-deception is not a question of conscience, but of self-awareness. In deceiving ourselves, we create a personal reality of desires different from objective reality. Lacking self-reflection will drift us away from reality, and eventually it may become a generator and a plaything of political lies. The question is: to what extent is our aspiration for truth and our ability to selfreflection able to counterbalance mendacious political attitudes? Kant, as a representative of relentless truth-telling, believed that distorting the truth is immoral, and indicates lack of conscience. If we violate the principle of telling the truth in all circumstances, it means that we are capable of lying to ourselves, then to others as well, and others will also lie to us. The political sphere will exploit and make use of the potential of such dispositions.

Item Type:	Book Section
Other title:	Lies, self-deception and conscience as political phenomena
Journal or Publication Title:	Sipos József-emlékkötet
Date:	2023
ISSN:	2786-2755
ISBN:	978-963-306-962-2
Page Range:	pp. 147-155
Series Name:	Fontes et Libri : tanulmányok / studies
Language:	Hungarian, English
Publisher:	Középkori és Kora Újkori Magyar Történeti Tanszék
Place of Publication:	Szeged
Related URLs:	http://acta.bibl.u-szeged.hu/84405/
DOI:	10.14232/btk.2023.sje.13
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Politikai filozófia, Hazugság
Additional Information:	Bibliogr. a lábjegyzetekben ; összefoglalás angol nyelven
Subjects:	06. Humanities 06. Humanities > 06.03. Philosophy, ethics and religion
Date Deposited:	2024. Feb. 13. 09:32
Last Modified:	2024. Feb. 13. 09:32
URI:	http://acta.bibl.u-szeged.hu/id/eprint/84459

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