Post-truth and critical pedagogy of trust

Abstract

This paper shows that the concept of post-truth disturbs the traditional relationship between truth and trust. It philosophically examines this relationship and concludes that, in the context of post-truth, emotion and instinct are often more powerful than truth and reason-in this space, truth gets replaced by trust. Moving on to the relationship between post-truth and digital trust, the paper shows that the trustworthiness of digital sources is always established in relation to the non-digital. Using the so-called data-information-knowledge-wisdom (DIKW) hierarchy, it concludes that post-truth is a poisonous public pedagogy, and indicates that it could be counterbalanced by a critical pedagogy of trust that pays equal attention to data, information, and knowledge.