Learning from Post-Truth

Slought is pleased to announce "Learning from Post-Truth," a conversation with Maurizio Ferraris on Tuesday, April 11, 2017 from 5:30-6:30pm about the perverse transformation of the postmodern conception of truth into the "alternative" reality of contemporary populism. The event will consist of a short talk by Ferraris, followed by a conversation with Jean-Michel Rabaté, Senior Curator for Discursive Projects at Slought.

Thirty years ago Noam Chomsky claimed that everything written in The New York Times was false; now Trump is saying the same. In criticizing The New York Times, Chomsky enunciated a principle of enlightened and idealistic origin: science is the guarantee of a truth that sets us free and is disinterested, that is, it is impartial and subjected to no practical agenda. Therefore scientists are the guardian of truth, and from this position can judge the truth of others—for example that of the bourgeois press, subservient to capitalist and imperialist interests.

With the advent of postmodernism, a different view prevailed: science is an institution, as much as politics or capital. It can be criticized, which gives rise to different truths. Then along came Trump with his "alternative truths," an expression reminiscent of the postmodern criticism of science. Claiming that there only is one truth is "dogmatic;" we are being asked to admit there are alternative truths, just as there are alternative medicines and energies. Here the concept of post-truth will be taken seriously, for it has much to teach us. Foremost, it highlights the perverse yet logical transformation of postmodern ideals into the reality of populism.