Historicizing Post-Truth: Possible Contributions to a Critique of Populism

• In Event: Antecedents, Interventions and Post-Truth Politics: The Performance and Politicization of Climate Science and Market Fundamentalism

Abstract

Given the recent upsurge in public discussion about the politics of truth-claims that is fostered by the neologism of ‘post-truth’, this paper considers what can be gleaned from the history of science to help illuminate theorizations of populism, post-truth and the current US administration. More specifically, the paper relates the history of pro-market, anti-regulation arguments that leveraged scientific discourse to make political claims about the ownership of electric utilities and climate change. The paper then considers how political theories of populism and discourses of post-truth are applied to the politics of the current US administration. Discussions of post-truth politics suggest that novel political strategies are being deployed; rather than simply lying to cover-up a truth that politicians do not want publicized, post-truth politics are said to involve the deliberate fabrication of narratives that are designed to resonate with the emotions of target audiences. In this way, post-truth politics are related to populism and the creation of a supposedly unified people in whose name populist leaders assume authority. The history of science provides examples of previous articulations of such strategies. The history of science, moreover, can be mobilized to formulate a progressive politics. Instead of re-inscribing hard lines between facts and values, scientists and social-scientists, could articulate public arguments in terms of values. An important value in such conversations is the democratic ideal of respect for differences, rather than the populist unification of a people without differences.

Author

• Naomi Oreskes, Harvard University - History of Science