Muers, R (2014) The Ethics of Stats Some Contemporary Questions about Telling the Truth. Journal of Religious Ethics, 42 (1). pp. 1-21. ISSN 0384-9694
Abstract
This essay argues for the importance and interest, within and beyond theological ethics, of the ethical questions faced by professionals who are called on to be producers of statistics (herein “stats”) for management purposes. Truth-telling, in the context of demands for stats, cannot be evaluated at the level of the individual statement or utterance, nor through an ethical framework primarily focused on the correspondence between thought and speech. Reflection on stats production forces us to treat truth-telling as contextual and political, and to engage with the idea that the capacity to tell the truth is learned or acquired in communities, societies and institutions. I develop this engagement through a rereading of Dietrich Bonhoeffer on “telling the truth” and Michel Foucault on parrhēsia, identifying and exploring the relationship between the responsible use of stats and the “cynical” protest against them.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Keywords: | truth; lies; truth-telling; audit culture; Dietrich Bonhoeffer; Michel Foucault |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science (Leeds) > Theology and Religious Studies (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 07 Mar 2017 16:34 |
Last Modified: | 07 Mar 2017 16:34 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/jore.12042 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/jore.12042 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:113336 |