We live in a post-truth era where misinformation abounds, and scientific evidence is often supplanted by alternative facts, pseudoscience, fake news, and conspiracy theories. Oxford Dictionaries recently named “Post-Truth” as their Word of the Year, defining it as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” While intentional lying, especially by political leaders, is likely as old as civilization itself, we have entered a new era where truth, objective facts, and science are increasingly under assault.
The growing disregard for facts by the public and political leaders has serious consequences for policymaking, inhibiting evidenced based decision-making to protect our planet, address social problems, and alleviate human suffering around the globe. Science and scientific communication is also affected by these developments, as they are constantly under the attack of alternative "truths".
We must develop a better understanding of the causes and consequences of post-truth dynamics. To that end, in this class we will discuss the works of an international set of scholars studying various dimensions of the problem.
Each week we will discuss theoretical texts and will try to apply them to the analysis of various contemporary cases.
- Dozent: Ayshe Metin Mustafa