Abstract: Blamed as a perversion of the political discussion and a mode of political domination, political lying also belongs to the informal rules of political discussion. Is it acceptable, and if so why? After having traced the reasons why philosophical tradition has classically recused political lying, this presentation shows why this tradition also rejects the idea of a “politics of sincerity”, be it defined as an ideal of authenticity or a deliberative principle of goodwill. While not aiming to support political lying as intrinsically good, this article supports the idea that, in a non ideal speech situation, lying can contribute to the democratic life, of which effective functioning allows on its turn to limit the perverse effects. This paper will show that political lying can favor the quality and equality of public decision better than sincerity – or for the least, there can be a reasonable disagreement this can be so
