Part 1: What is the difference between Truth, a Lie and Bullshit?

Students should begin by writing brief definitions of these words:

TRUTH, LIE, SATIRE/ JOKE, FICTION, MISTAKE, BULLSHIT (or, politely, BS)

What is the difference between truth, lie, satire/joke, fiction, mistake, and BS?

After 10 minutes, discuss how these concepts overlap and differ from each other.  It is important to get to the point where the students see that a lie involves a complicated mental state. In order to lie, one must:

• Know the truth
• Say the opposite and intend for it to be believed by the listener

The listener’s state of mind is important to this as well.  The third link on the Resources tab is about Harry Frankfurt’s famous definition of bullshit, something which has become prescient in how well he predicted the age of bullshit.

At this point, the question of how we can know the truth arises.  This lesson does not aim to answer this question, but to investigate three positions on how truth arises: correspondence theory, coherence theory and pragmatism.  The students should use the first link to understand the differences between the theories and try to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each theory.

http://www.toktalk.net/2008/11/09/three-different-types-of-truth/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cpl5jQpLomE

Part 2: What is the Value of Truth?

Facilitate a discussion with the students about the value of truth. You can use the selection from Harry Frankfurt’s On Truth if you would like or simply proceed directly to discussion. You might consider these questions:

• Is truth valuable? Why or why not?
• Could a society function without some shared idea of what the truth is?
• What is useful about the truth? How might getting to the truth not be useful?
• Do all truths have practical value? Which truths do you think might not be practically useful?

Part 3: How can we spot Fake News and Alternative Facts?

Excerpted from How to Spot Fake News, Eugene Kiely and Lori Robertson, November, 2016

http://www.factcheck.org/2016/11/how-to-spot-fake-news/

David Mikkelson warned in a Nov. 17 article not to lump everything into the “fake news” category. “The fictions and fabrications that comprise fake news are but a subset of the larger bad news phenomenon, which also encompasses many forms of shoddy, unresearched, error-filled, and deliberately misleading reporting that do a disservice to everyone,” he wrote.

A lot of these viral claims aren’t “news” at all, but fiction, satire and efforts to fool readers into thinking they’re for real.

Key Characteristics of Bogusness — Among them: an anonymous author; excessive exclamation points, capital letters and misspellings; entreaties that “This is NOT a hoax!”; and links to sourcing that does not support or completely contradicts the claims being made.

Here’s our advice on how to spot a fake:

1. Consider the source.
2. Read beyond the headline.
3. Check the author.
4. What’s the support?
5. Check the date.
6. Is this some kind of joke?
7. Check your biases.
8. Consult the experts.

Discussion Questions

• Have you seen anything you think is fake news recently? What made you think that?
• Often people spot fake news when it relates to something they disagree with but less when it concerns an idea they do agree with. Why might that be the case?
• Is something “news” if it is not, in fact, true?