Page 14 - Issue17

issue 17
March 2020
ELITE
13

BETWEEN TRUTH AND LYING:

On the Founding Myth of

Political Science

*Ahmed Nabwy , FEPS Graduate and a researcher in Political Philosophy

Citing Habermas when he wrote "the spectre of Marx will Then came Arendt to refute this narration of the sc ience saying
always be there above our heads forever", I say wha t if it's that lying is not as clear anywhere else as it is i n politics. After
the spectre of Plato that will be above us too – we students her came Derrida to state that the issue goes beyon d what
of political science- forever. Arendt said, rather political history is the histor y of lying. Over
time we started to have the concept of '' post-truth age'' as an
But since the Marxist spectre is known for his comm unism expression of our own current age. Then we ask what after
then what is the platonic one? And where to disting uish it truth but lying? And If they are the same, then our age is that of
in the writings of the philosopher? For that, I sta rt to say lying.
that the spectre of Plato is that of Al-Farabi afte r him, and
of Tomas more later on, it's the platonic utopia, th e myth of Having spoken about truth, I find myself obliged to return to
political philosophy that never gets bored. Foucault. In the final analysis, what can Foucault teach us but
the fact that authority penetrates us all? And that if you see any
And the myth of philosophy begins from Plato's cave , to be representation of authority, go check your pistol. Its Foucault's
transferred to Utopia, the beginning is Plato's the ory of the dictates about truth that always tell us that when its time to
example, and from then on the permanent distinction discuss politics, truth jumps from the first window . In her
between what is reality and what should be, and whe n Plato article '' truth and politics'', Arendt was clear and frank when
used his theory in political philosophy, he created for us a she tells us that truth and politics are contraries that haven't and
dream is utopia, or example, and Reality, which is all the will never meet.
political systems that humanity has known, and from this
moment we live a paradox between what we imagine fr om Based on the previous, can't we dare to ask politica l science
an ideal political world, and a reality that is far ther from the and political philosophy when they delude us assumi ng that
example. their main purpose is the search for truth? And if truth and
politics aren't to meet, then what is the importance of political
The idea of utopia is based on a main feature which to science and political philosophy? These are questio ns that go
imagine an ideal society, meaning that it cherishes the beyond my horizon in the search for an answer, but I can't
value of truth above any other thing, which is goin g to be a spare the effort to pose them.
premises for establishing political science as a se arch for
truth, and truth here is inversely the utopia, so, we notice Criticism can afford not to go that far, but it tea ches us – we
that distinguishing truth for utopia s blurred, the y are students of the science- to be modest when we see t he world
almost the same. through the lens of our own political knowledge, wh ich –
Later on, utopia will be the search for a society w hich is the ironically- can be founding lying more than being a search for
most egalitarian in Marxist terms, the freest in li beral truth. Rather we can go to say that our history – the near and
terms, and the most just in Islamic terms. As such, political the far- could snitch to say that political science established for
philosophy has established its great myth- the foun der of lying in its most battles with truth in clear words , blurred
the science- and political science became the searc h for concept, and good talk when truth fade away behind tons of
truth. lying.

I S S U E 1 7 , M A R C H 2 0 2 0 P A G E 1 3
E L I T E