Lying,a way of knowledge in Umberto Eco’s Numero zero

Abstract

In Numero zero the main theme is lying. It is utilized as a sort of normative account of its epistemic implication foregrounding lying's problematization. Here Eco addresses the very duality of lying that is intertwined with the authenticity of language, and journalism is the ideal genre to tackle this problem. A lie is intrinsically linguistic and essentially semiotic because, at a material expression level and an immaterial content level, language violates the principle of non-contradiction since it is and it is not at the same time and in the same respect, due to the dualistic nature of signs that work toward the creation of meaning. It is because it is endowed with the ability to refer; it is not because it is never a true self, it lacks its own individuality. Thus, as a communicative/significative medium, language foresees and legitimizes the paradoxical duality between lie and truth insofar as it always requires the presence of the other; it requires the coexistence of the one (expression level) and the other (content level) to ultimately produce meaning. Numero zero sheds light on the hermeneutics of lies and fakes, and further gives a hint of the reverberations they produce in the world in which we live.