Abstract
The introductory chapter argues that post-truth has become a spectre haunting the twenty-first century, given the toxic atmosphere it has created in contemporary political life and the public realm in general. It establishes that the book’s overall aim is to present a defence of truth, as well as liberal democratic ideals (interpreting these in broad terms), in order to counter the drift into demagoguery that we are currently experiencing. This defence will be contextualised within the debate on truth in philosophical history, with particular reference to the theory of scepticism and its concept of truth as relativistic. The problem that philosophical scepticism sets for such a project as this is outlined briefly, prior to being explored in greater detail at various later points of the book.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Barnes, Jonathan, The Toils of Scepticism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Derrida, Jacques, Writing and Difference [1967], trans. Alan Bass, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1978.
Gray, John, Post-Liberalism: Studies in Political Thought, New York and London: Routledge, 1993.
Levitsky, Steven, and Daniel Ziblatt, How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future, New York: Viking, 2018.
Lyotard, Jean-François, and Jean-Loup Thébaud, Just Gaming [1979], trans. Wlad Godzich, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985.
Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto [1848], ed. Frederic L. Bender, New York and London: W. W. Norton, 1988.
Mounk, Yascha, The People vs Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger & How to Save It, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2018.
Runciman, David, How Democracy Ends, London: Profile, 2018.
Snyder, Timothy, The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America, London: Bodley Head, 2018.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty, Introduction to Jacques Derrida, Of Grammatology [1967], trans. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Baltimore, MD and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sim, S. (2019). Introduction: Truth Will Out?. In: Post-Truth, Scepticism & Power. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15876-7_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15876-7_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-15875-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-15876-7
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)