Dr William Martin presents ‘Towards a general theory of the lie: Oscar Wilde on The Decay of Lying’, on Wednesday 20 September from 1pm to 2pm.
The comparison between writing poetry and lying lies at the heart of Oscar Wilde’s dialogue on The Decay of Lying, yet the rhetorical strategy that he employs to prove his point must cause us to question whether or not the poetic statement can be considered a ‘lie’ in the normal sense of the word.
Taking Habermas’ theory of communicative action as his point of departure, Dr Martin’s paper will position Oscar Wilde’s notion of lying within the context of contemporary speech-act theory, and question whether or not the poetic statement is made with the intention to deceive.
William Martin lectures in communications at Charles Darwin University and edits Research and Policy, a monthly newsletter of the School for Social and Policy Research. He has a strong interest in Greek philosophy and modernist literature, and his PhD thesis - The Recurrence of Rhythm: configurations of the voice in Homer, Plato and Joyce - was recently conferred at the University of New South Wales. He is currently working as Communications Project Officer at SSPR.
This presentation takes place in Room 39.1.40, CDU’s Casuarina Campus.
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