The empiricism strikes back: Strategies for avoiding a post-truth world

Abstract

Despite a seismic shift in humanity's ability to locate, analyze, and share data, we nevertheless appear to be careening toward a "post-truth" world in which little matters beyond whatever people want to believe. The challenge before us, then, is to become more careful consumers of information as a means of self-empowerment. Though national and international institutions can aid in this effort, this chapter submits that this form of empowerment must necessarily take root at the individual-level. Toward this end, after documenting scholarly research on the patterns and pitfalls of motivated reasoning, the chapter offers readers a concise set of strategies for thinking about and evaluating empirical evidence in global affairs. Only by treating the objective pursuit of knowledge about our world as a shared value-i.e., to treat the pursuit of accuracy as its own ethos-can we begin to talk with, rather than past, one another about the most pressing issues of our time. Absent such a shared commitment, those in power may be increasingly able to construct reality as they see fit, and with little fear of censure from their followers.