Cross-cultural studies on concepts of lying: methodological approaches and their findings. Forthcoming in: A. Wiegmann (ed): Lying, Fake News, and Bullshit. Bloomsbury: Advances in Experimental Philosophy.

Abstract

Concepts help us to represent the world. They underly how we organize our thinking regarding beliefs and complex structures, such as prototypes or theories. While some concepts appear universally present–likely due to evolved mechanisms– others seem to be culturally specific or embedded in complex cultural phenomena. Based on the existing literature, I will address where the concept of lying lies in the continuum between universalism and particularism, what we know about cultural differences in the concept of lying, and how the concept has been studied cross-culturally so far. Additionally, I will discuss the difficulties that the phenomenon of lying poses when aiming to understand it from a comparative perspective.