Truthiness v. educational goods: three examples from the post-truth era

This paper applies the Educational Goods Framework (EGF) developed by Harry Brighouse, Helen F. Ladd, Susanna Loeb, and Adam Swift to educational interventions addressing the challenges of the post-truth era. The term ‘post-truth’ refers to a context where emotional appeals and personal beliefs overshadow objective facts in shaping public opinion and political debate. A related concept, truthiness, describes the appearance of truth without necessarily being true. The prevalence of disinformation and conspiracy theories, particularly on the Internet and social media, exemplifies this phenomenon. The paper uses the EGF’s powerful conceptual tools to sketch out the phenomenon of truthiness and its relationship to schools and education. Following this, the paper explores three educational interventions to build resilience against truthiness: (A) enhancing standard educational goods, (B) implementing information literacy programs, and (C) addressing truthiness directly in the classroom through discussions on controversial topics, as proposed by Glenn Bezalel. The analysis uses the EGF to evaluate these interventions, highlighting that while educational goods can promote individual flourishing, resilience against truthiness is crucial for this flourishing to be realized. The conclusion discusses the implications of using the EGF to address truthiness, emphasizing the need for educational responses to the post-truth era.