Truth in a Hyperconnected Society: Educate, an Outlandish Answer to the Post-truth Phenomenon

Abstract

This chapter examines the sources of the political dimension of the post-truth phenomenon as well as how the social media have multiplied and exacerbated the problem. From there, the pedagogical dimension of the matter is considered. Post-truth phenomenon poses serious obstacles to teaching: how to respond to the conditions post-truth creates in educational situations? The chapter begins by encompassing the problematic relationship between the search for truth and political practice and the place post-truth practices hold in that relationship. It then goes to explore how essential social media are to understanding the workings and scope of post-truth practices. From there three post-truth scenarios are recreated in which education becomes impossible. The chapter concludes with two very basic but nonetheless outlandish ideas in the current context: that the pedagogical dimension of the post-truth problem must be taken on in pedagogical terms and that education is only possible if it is practiced affirmatively.