EP11: Is Post-Truth Actually Good? (On Fuller’s Post-Truth as Power Game)

Academic Edgelords

We revisit a curious academic debate in science and technology studies, or STS. After 2016, some claimed that leftist humanities scholars played a role in creating the post-truth moment. And Steve Fuller argued that there’s nothing wrong with that. He likens post-truth to a kind of epistemic democratization that we should embrace.

We read the third chapter from Steve Fuller’s book, Post Truth: Knowledge as Power Game. We also read three short essays that build on this debate. You can find those here, here, and here.

In the episode, we ask:

• In what way is the reactionary right similar and different to the science studies left?
• What would epistemic democratization really mean, and is that a good thing?
• How far are we willing to go with ideas that stress the social construction of scientific knowledge?
• Do we counter the anti-science right by defending scientists, or by offering a broader political vision?
• And more generally, what should the left do when the right takes leftish ideas?

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