Lies, while certainly as old as the human capacity to communicate, are nowadays a particularly pressing problem, especially in the communication and political spheres, to the extent that our era has been called the "post-truth era". Bullshit, hoaxes, fake news, biased selection and interpretation of data, the very fabrication of data and even the appeal to "alternative facts" are all phenomena that have a negative impact on the current communicative configuration of the public sphere, to the point of compromising our intellectual autonomy and threatening the proper functioning of a democratic society.

This seminar will be concerned with characterising the various types of lies and deception, as well as analysing and assessing their functions in different contexts. It will also reflect on the problem posed by the set of phenomena associated with post-truth that are so present in the media, both in traditional journalism and in social networks. The aim is to advance in a critical understanding of these social pathologies that will enable us to deal with them effectively.