Group Lies

There are often significant consequences that follow from group lies, for both the liars and those lied to. This chapter focuses on the question of what a group lie is. It considers whether group lies can be understood in terms of the lies of the group’s members, and whether group lies can be characterized in terms of joint agreement by the group’s members to lie. After showing both views to be misguided, the author offers an account of group lying according to which it crucially involves the group offering a statement. Because what a group says can come apart from what its individual members say, a group might lie when no individual member lies, and a group might fail to lie even though every individual member does. This view provides a framework for understanding what a group lie is, and for holding groups responsible for their broader linguistic behavior.