Kant and Fake News

In the first part of my presentation project I would like to differenciate between three kinds of „fake news“. In order to doing so, I will first argue that all kinds of „fake news“ have to be understand as a way of deceiving. The kinds of „fake news“ can be differentiated by the different kinds of deception. Lying, concealment and spinning are kinds of deception and „fake news“ work with at least one of them. In the second part I would like to concentrate on how these different kinds of „fake news“ can be evaluated on a kantian perspective. In order to doing so, I first reconstructed the argument which is presentated in context of the formula of universality in the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals about lying. For the reconstruction I will use the terminology of the speech act theory. By doing so, it becomes clear that one infringes the felicity condition (Γ.1) by lying. In the third and last part of my presentation I will focus on the second appendix of the perpetual Peace (Concerning the Harmony of Politics with Morals) to make the reconstruction of the categorical imperative plausible. In the explanatory remarks to the transcendental formula of public right Kant writes: „For there is something wrong in a maxim of conduct which I cannot divulge without at once defeating my purpose, a maxim which must therefore be kept secret, if it is to succeed[…]“. These Fake News can be evaluated in Kantian terms as juridical and morally wrong, because the speech act which is involved in Fake News only works, when some intentions stay hidden.