‘Susan Neiman (USA)’

Back to reason in times of 'post-truth'

From the Brexit to the election of Donald Trump, the current tolerance to lies has inflicted inestimable damage. It is easy to incriminate technological opportunities, social media and other contemporary phenomena as the causes of this problem. Of course, they do make the problem worse. However, I believe that there are many deeper, philosophical aspects involved. As long as we do not understand them, we will not be able to recover from the damage inflicted on our democratic political culture.

Susan Neiman is a philosopher who leads the Einstein Forum in Potsdam. She is the author of books such as Slow Fire: Jewish Notes from Berlin, The Unity of Reason: Rereading Kant, Evil in Modern Thought, Moral Clarity: A Guide for Growing-Up Idealists and Why Grow Up?