Krise der Faktizität?: Über Wahrheit und Lüge in der Politik und die Aufgabe der Kritik

In: Prokla: Zeitschrift für kritische Sozialwissenschaft, Volume 47, Issue 188, p. 347-368

Abstract

Trump's electoral victory, Brexit, the emergence of the AfD or the strength of right-wing politics in France and Austria indicate a new era of the political in which neoliberal hegemony is being increasingly challenged from the right. The current shift to the far right goes hand in hand with a new quantity and quality of lies and falsehoods. Consequently, many commentators have diagnosed the emergence of a 'post truth society'. Beginning with an overview of this debate, this article assesses the 'post truth' diagnosis and challenges not only the new dimension of lies but also the truth claims of critics. The article argues that we will not be able to understand the characteristics and perils of the post truth society if we do not address the anti-pluralist and elitist neoliberal technocracy of the recent past. The critique of the liberal critique of Trump & Co. raises the question of what an emancipatory social criticism of far-right falsehoods might look like that does not reaffirm liberal dominance on one side and the resurgence of powerful positivist truth claims on the other.