What is POST-TRUTH in philosophy and examples

Welcome to a PROFESSOR, in this class we are going to explain what is post-truth in philosophy. The truth has been a much discussed issue throughout the history of philosophy, however, today we have a term that is becoming more and more familiar to us, post-truth.

This concept has its origin in the English neologism post-truth What does it mean after the truth and that was used for the first time in 1992 in the USA by Steve Tesch. In this way, post-truth is defined as a deliberate distortion of the truth in order to create an opinion and model it.

If you want know more about post-truth in philosophy, in this lesson we explain it to you with examples. Let's start!

Index

1. What is truth in philosophy?
2. Post-truth in philosophy: simple definition
3. How is post-truth created?
4. post-truth examples

Before defining what post-truth is, you first need to know what post-truth is. TRUE and how it is defined in philosophy. In this way, we have to RAE define truth, as:

1. Conformity of things with the concept that the mind forms of them.
2. Conformity of what is said with what is felt or thought.

Ultimately, the truth is the direct relationship between between what we know, what we say/affirm and what we feel. Hence, it is generally associated with concepts such as honesty or sincerity.

On the other hand, if we approach the history of philosophy, we have that this term has been a constant theme, which, part of Aristotle. For whom the truth is related to knowledge and resides in the soul: It is the being or that which is would be the truth) and non-being or that which is not it would be the lie.

In addition, numerous philosophical movements have exposed their idea of ​​truth, such as: the dogmatism (absolute truth), pragmatism (truth as utility) or criticism.

The concept of post-truth is relatively modern and has its origin in the English neologism post-truth What does it mean after the truth. This was first used in 1992 by Steve Tesich in an article on the gulf war which he published in The Nation and where he stated that

“I regret that we, as a free people, have decided freely in a post-truth reigns”.

Thus, post-truth is usually defined as an affirmation that alludes to unbelievable facts or as "a truth" that can influence the creation of an opinion and that is based on the emotional.

Also, if we go RAE we have that post-truth is defined as:

Distortion deliberate deception of reality, which manipulates beliefs and emotions in order to influence public opinion and social attitudes.

In short, at present, post-truth is a distorted and manipulated truth consciously to influence public opinion and where the objective is not the truth itself but misinform. Thus, today it is quite common to use it in politics, social networks or in the media. As for example hoaxes or fake news, where a lie becomes truth or as I would say Nietzsche:

“The truth does not exist, only interpretations exist.

One of the questions we have to ask ourselves to understand post-truth 100% is how it is created. Broadly speaking, these would be the steps:

1. There is an intention to create an opinion which is favorable to you.
2. A hoax is created or a half truth that favors your intentions.
3. The hoax is endowed with “arguments” that are false, but that seem to be real: manipulation of videos, audios, images...
4. starts streaming, more elements are added to the hoax and each time it reaches more people. Word of mouth, social networks and the media are key at this point.
5. What is not true becomes true, largely because we do not verify and because on many occasions we search for what we want to find, read or hear certain news. In this sense, what we should do is question what they are telling us and not believe it.

So that you better understand what post-truth is, we will explain it to you with three examples of post-truth real:

• The anti-vaccine campaigns of groups that are against the Covid-19 vaccine: In most countries there are people who refuse to be vaccinated, alluding to the fact that the vaccine does nothing against said disease and that it generates serious side effects in the individual. To do this, many anti-vaccine groups carry out campaigns alluding to false pseudoscientific studies and that serve as an argument to create the hoax that the vaccine does not save lives.
• Brexit: In June 2016 in the U.K. A vote was held to decide whether U.K. I should go out or stay in the European Union. Finally, the result was in favor of the exit and the fake news used by Brexiters had a lot to do with it, such as: U.K. gave about 350 million pounds a week to the Union, that their money was going to other countries, that they were losing freedoms, that many foreign…
• the iraq war: After the 9/11 attacks in the US. A strong campaign of discredit (scapegoating) had already been created on the Muslims. This fact, together with false and self-serving information about the possession of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, made The US declared war on that country with the intention of ending the weapons and alluding to security international. The reality was that these weapons were never found because they did not exist and that there were interests in Iraq's oil.

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Zubiri, X. (1999). The man and the truth. Publishing Alliance