The Ethics of Deception

Time: 26-27 November 2025

Place: Gula Villan, Stockholm University

Organisers: Helen Frowe and Jonas Haeg

Deception is a pervasive part of public and private life. Some deceptions seem innocuous, desirable, expected, or even demanded by, say, duties of gratitude, loyalty, or friendship. We tell our children that Santa Claus exists (!), assure our partners that we love their (frankly baffling) gift, promise interviewers that this is our absolute dream job, and insist that our friend’s signature dish is just terrific. We might think that certain state actors also have permissions and duties to deceive. Police officers use deception to entrap suspected criminals, manipulate suspects in interviews, and infiltrate criminal organisations. Spies deceptively obtain state secrets. And yet we also treat deception as a prima facie wrong: we teach our children not to lie, regard being deceitful as a vice and being honest as a virtue, and often feel wronged when we discover that someone has deceived or misled us.

This workshop will explore a range of conceptual, theoretical and applied ethical issues connected to deception, broadly construed.

Programme:

Wednesday 26th November

09.30 – 09.45 Welcome and Introductions

09.45 – 10.45 Chloe Kennedy (Edinburgh):

‘The Ethics (and Legality) of Deceptive Intimate Relationships’ (PC) (Chair: Helen Frowe)

10.45- 11.15 Coffee

11.15 – 12.30 Helen Frowe (Stockholm):

‘Criminalising Deceptive Relationships’ (PC) (Chair: Jonas Haeg)

12.30 – 14.00 Lunch at the Faculty Club (speakers only)

14.00 – 15.15 Radu Bumbăcea (LMU Munich):

‘Personas and Deception’ (T) (Chair: Fabio Crespi)

15:20 – 16.35 Shalom Chalson (Singapore):

‘Lying to Loved Ones: (Wrongful) Deception and Health Status’ (PC) (Chair: Ellen Svensson)

Thursday 27th November

10.00 – 11.00 Alex Barber and Sean Cordell (Open University):

‘Legislating against Political Lying’ (PC) (Chair: Ellen Davidsson)

11.00 – 11.30 Coffee

11.30 – 12.30 Jörg Löschke (Stuttgart):

‘Love, Games, and Deception’ (PC) (Chair: Helen Frowe)

12.30 – 14.00 Lunch at the Faculty Club (speakers only)

14.00 – 15.00 Maria Lucila Tuñón Corti (MPI/Würzburg):

‘Stealthing: Between Consent and Deception’ (PC) (Chair: Ana Belén Valverde Cano)

15.05 – 16.20 Pascal Mowla (Oxford):

‘Sentimentality and Generative AI: What’s Wrong with “Cheating”?’ (T) (Chair: Kris Moody)

16.20 – 16.40 Coffee

16.40 – 17.55 Luke Hunt (Alabama):

‘The Legal and Moral Right (and Duty) to Deceive’ (T) (Chair: Jonas Haeg)

Registration is now closed.