PESGB Strathclyde Seminar: What is the role of truth(fulness) in a critical education against populism?

Dr Tobias Lensch, University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Germany

Dr Lensch will explore political philosopher Hannah Arendt's notions of truth and reason - and discuss the role of truth(fulness) for an education against populism.

There are still a few tickets left for the talk, so please feel free to invite your friends via the Eventbrite link

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Every objective or research-related aspect of education, every conception of what knowledge is or should be in an educational context, cannot avoid the question of truth and falsity when it comes to misuse or misleading ways of claiming true or false propositions. One of the positive basic assumptions of the Frankfurt School’s educational idea is and remains the orientation towards the truth of statements, truth in life and truthfulness in the life of an individual. The problem however is: There is no broad consensus on what the truth of beliefs is and whether there is anything we can agree on. A systematic reconstruction of concepts of truth from the perspective of educational philosophy, their challenges and significance for contemporary critical education, might help us to understand the importance of truth and truthfulness for an education against populism and, most importantly, an education against fascism. Hannah Arendt's approach to this topic in Truth and Politics (Hannah Arendt, Truth and Politics, New Yorker 1967) is an example of this. Taking up Arendt's distinction between truth of reason and truth of fact, it is necessary (against Arendt’s own argumentation) to affirm the importance of different theories of truth. This is because depending on the specific theory of truth, a different relationship to political and scientific practices, and thus also to educational practices, follows.