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The University of Southampton
Lifelong Learning

Truth and Post-Truth Study Day Event

Truth and Post-Truth
Date:
27 July 2019
Venue:
Avenue Campus, University of Southampton, Highfield Rd, Southampton SO17 1BF

For more information regarding this event, please email Lifelong Learning Team at lifelonglearning@soton.ac.uk .

Event details

The term ‘post-truth’ denotes a particular form of politics and public discourse that includes intentional misleading, misinformation, and disinformation, often mediated through the strategic use of digital media. Its corrosive effects undermine democratic processes and structures, and the discrediting of ‘experts’, ‘expertise’, and ‘science’ by political actors.

The study programme has three objectives: In a first instance, we explore  why certainties seem to vanish as particular interest groups declare the results of scientific research as ‘fake’ and create their own ‘alternative facts’. Secondly, we focus on how scientific knowledge is created and why empirical research often leads to contradictory results or the lack of ultimate ‘proof’. Examples come from a variety of disciplines, for example research on the relation between food and health, human evolution, psychology, economics and global warming. We also, thirdly, discuss this topic from philosophical perspectives that have questioned notions of ‘truth' and how they might have contributed to the emergence of the ‘post-truth’ environment.

Draft Programme

09:30 - Registration and coffee.

10:10 - Introduction by Dr Karin Zotzmann.

10:15 - First talk by Dr Karin Zotzmann. 'Post-Truth' Politics, Scientific Knowledge and Truth.
 
11:00 - Refreshment break.

11:15 - Second Talk by Dr Karin Zotzmann. The Creation of Scientific Knowledge.
 
12:00 - Refreshment Break 

12:15 - Third talk by Karin Zotzmann. The Communication of Scientific Knowledge.

13:00 - Event Ends.

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