CFP: Workshop on The Ethics of Deception

Deception is a pervasive part of public and private life. Some deceptions seem innocuous, desirable, expected, or even demanded by, say, duties of gratitude, loyalty, or friendship. We tell our children that Santa Claus exists (!), assure our partners that we love their (frankly baffling) gift, promise interviewers that this is our absolute dream job, and insist that our friend’s signature dish is just terrific. We might think that certain state actors also have permissions and duties to deceive. Police officers use deception to entrap suspected criminals, manipulate suspects in interviews, and infiltrate criminal organisations. Spies deceptively obtain state secrets. And yet we also treat deception as a prima facie wrong: we teach our children not to lie, regard being deceitful as a vice and being honest as a virtue, and often feel wronged when we discover that someone has deceived or misled us.

This workshop will explore a range of conceptual, theoretical and applied ethical issues connected to deception, broadly construed. Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

-        Conceptual accounts of deception

-        Whether, when, and why deception is wrong

-        Permissible and justified deceptions

-        The relationship between deception and consent

-        Deception and privacy rights

-        Deception as manipulation

-        Deception in relationships

-        The role of deception in law enforcement

-        Spying and espionage

-        Deception and propaganda

-        Deception in politics

SCEWP will cover the cost of up to three nights’ accommodation in Stockholm for the authors of accepted papers. Participants are responsible for their own travel costs.

We aim to publish the accepted papers as either a journal symposium or edited volume. Please note that accepting an invitation to present entails allowing us first refusal on publishing your paper.

Abstracts of no more than 500 words should be submitted to Jonas Haeg ([email protected]) no later than the 1st of May 2025. Decisions on acceptance will be communicated no later the 31st of May 2025. There will be slots for both pre-circulated papers and presentations; please indicate your preference when submitting your abstract, which we will do our best to accommodate. Revised papers, to be considered for publication, will be due no later than the 31st of January 2026.