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Abstract
The central aim of this dissertation is to determine whether Kant's theory of justice can support a juridical (legal) duty of veracity, and if it can, then to determine the nature and scope of such a duty. I construct a Kantian defense of veracity that is social and epistemic. First, I argue that we cannot exercise our practical reason to make choices in the robust way the right of freedom requires without the ability to rationally trust certain social sources of expert knowledge. The duty of veracity is necessary to underwrite that trust. Second, I argue that Kant's standard of possible universal consent requires that any normatively authoritative exercise of the power of consent be not only uncoerced but informed, but consent cannot be informed without sufficient access to certain forms of expert social knowledge. Lies that in principle would undermine rational trust in such knowledge cut off that access.