This course is offered as an (Un)common Reading course within the UF Honors Program.
Credits: 1
Writing or Math Req: None
Gen Ed: None
Wednesdays 9th Period
Hume 0119
When is it okay to tell a lie? Is it wrong to tell small lies? Can one have an obligation to lie? Is it even possible to live a normal life while telling only the absolute truth?
Most of us have pondered these questions in private life. But larger, more public lies are taking a toll on our society. We have all seen the quality of our public discourse cheapened and degraded by internet trolls and sock puppets, cable television blowhards, nontroversy and corporate shills. Intentional misinformation seems rampant in politics and media. As good citizens we should think more about truth and falsehood. What is the difference between a lie and simple wrong information, or misinformation? How do our institutions permit or even facilitate the persistence of big lies that impact millions? What is the responsibility of an individual when a lie is being promulgated in the public sphere? In this course we will examine public lying in different but overlapping contexts, such as science, politics, media, religion, commerce, and academia. Our goal is to clarify the meaning of lies, understand the mechanisms by which they flourish in the private and public spheres, and explore our own individual obligations when lies are told.
Students will read Lying (2011), by author and neuroscientist Sam Harris, and On Bullshit (2005), by philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt. Each student will document, through a written blog or journal, his/her own experience of truth and falsehood in everyday life. Students will discuss highlights of their journals in class from time to time. Each student will also present for the class one example of an important lie that has had recent impact in the public sphere, researching both the lie and the related truth, and leading a discussion of this example from the perspective of the above course goals.
A member of the UF faculty since 1999, Steve Hagen is Professor and Associate Chair of the Physics Department. Although his PhD work focused on the study of high temperature superconductors, he studied protein folding at the National Institutes of Health and he worked for a year as a legislative fellow with the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking Housing and Urban Affairs. His research in biological physics deals with the ways that bacteria use chemical signals and noisy genetic circuits to detect their environment and communicate with each other. He is a fan of politics, news media, running and hiking.