When the Oxford English Dictionary chose ‘post-truth’ as its ‘Word of the Year’, in 2016, it defined it as relating to situations where ‘objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief’. Many worry that we now live in a ‘post-truth’ era. While accepting that spin and downright lies have always been part of politics, in the past we argued about whether political statements were true or not. Today, campaigners are more likely to look to the ‘the facts’ and ‘the science’, for authority, rather than win a political argument. In this compelling debate filmed at the Battle of Ideas we learn that truths are not simply reducible to scientific reasoning, but have a moral element, too.
Filmed at the Battle of Ideas 2017, the speakers are: Sohrab Ahmari, Andrew Bernstein, Dr Tim Black, Professor Steve Fuller, Professor Barbara Jacquelyn Sahakian, the chair is: Alastair Donald.
