Abstract
This short book offers a bold and insightful take on the so-called post-truth condition by setting the ambitious aim of providing a guide to it ‘for those who wish to feel at home and thrive in it – rather than simply avoid or attack it’ (p. vii). As the author Steve Fuller explains, the post-truth condition means many things to many people but according to him ‘in the post-truth condition, what matters is not whether something is true or false but how the matter is decided’ (p. 1). In Fuller’s view, the post-truth condition is something to be welcomed as ‘the logical next stage of the very same project of rationalisation that post-truth’s opponents claim to uphold’ (p. 1). It should, therefore, be ‘embraced as a sign of this project’s genuine democratisation’ (p. 1). The author explains that what we will evidence over the next few years is a devolution of authority from ‘experts’ to self-legislating individuals, resulting in the shakedown of ‘establishment’ institutions such as the state and the university. His view of the role of academia is provocative: he argues that ‘genuinely innovative knowledge has come mainly from outside the academia’ (p. 8). The book is split into Introduction, 14 short substantive chapters and Conclusion. The chapters deal with a range of topics: from the fate of truth, reason and reality in the post-truth condition to capitalism, scientism and the construction of value to PR and marketization, to the future of expertise and universities to a pertinent chapter on the pandemic through the lens of post-truth. All in all, this thought-provoking volume is definitely worth a read.