Pants on Fire: On Lying in Politics: A Conversation with Martin Jay

This book is based on an in-depth conversation with intellectual historian Martin Jay, UC Berkeley. A thought-provoking book in dialogue format examining Martin Jay’s extensive research on lying in politics from Plato and St. Augustine to Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss.
This carefully-edited book includes an introduction,The Varnished Truth, and questions for discussion at the end of each chapter:
I. A Fruitful Approach: Investigating “the political”
II. The Liar’s Stage: From Machiavelli to political play-acting
III. Lies, American Style: A central concern?
IV. Transcending Kant: The Value of nuance
V. Coming Clean: Appreciating what we know
VI. Monological Dangers: Truth as the enemy of the political
VII. Democracy: Its porous nature and implications
VIII. Getting Worse? In search of a Golden Age of truth-telling
IX. Puritanical Dangers: Fanatical truth-telling
X. Politics vs. Science: Similarities and differences
XI. Summing Up: Admissions and conclusions
This book is also available as part of the five-part Ideas Roadshow Collection, Conversations About The History of Ideas, which is available in hardcover, paperback and electronic format. This Collection also features Stefan Collini, Darrin McMahon, Pankaj Mishra and Quentin Skinner.
About Ideas Roadshow Conversations: Presented in an accessible, conversational format, Ideas Roadshow books not only explore frontline academic research but also reveal the inspirations and personal journeys behind the research.