Getting to post-post-truth

This piece ponders how teachers might best approach the issue of truth in the classroom, now that traditional models of truth-transmission have been problematised by what social epistemologist Steven Fuller calls ‘second-order awareness’—the apparent social construction of any given ‘truth-game’. Drawing on Charles Peirce’s original theorisation of the ‘community of inquiry’ at the birth of pragmatist philosophy, I argue that, as educators our best response to the recent ‘post-truth’ phenomenon is to pay less attention to our theories, in which we show up to truth-sceptics as experts, and more attention to our own epistemic practices, in which we show up to truth-sceptics as fellow persons. In any real-world encounter between persons, genuine listening and learning can offer practical proof that truth is not dead, notwithstanding the dire theoretical generalisations of sceptics, nihilists and relativists. I conclude by reflecting on some ways I’ve implemented these insights in developing a new first-year undergraduate Critical Thinking unit at my own university.