The Trump administration and its supporters have unleashed an unprecedented assault on traditional ideas of reality, and we are now left to pick up the pieces and ask: "How do we know what's true anymore?" Is the picture of the world we carry around in our heads accurate? How do we know? How can we spot the difference between real facts and fake news? Are all opinions equally suspect, or is there some reliable basis for separating true from false— and who, exactly, gets to decide that?
In "The Snares of Proteus," Sagar Jethani examines the question of whether we can ever say with certainty that one opinion is true and another is false. He examines statements from the Trump administration through the lens of philosophy and shows that once we surrender our belief in a single, shared reality, the entire basis for civil society is shattered.
By exploring the philosophical undercurrents which drive the headlines, Jethani offers a compelling way forward for anyone caught off guard by the election of Trump and the rise of the alt-right movement.
In "The Snares of Proteus," Sagar Jethani examines the question of whether we can ever say with certainty that one opinion is true and another is false. He examines statements from the Trump administration through the lens of philosophy and shows that once we surrender our belief in a single, shared reality, the entire basis for civil society is shattered.
By exploring the philosophical undercurrents which drive the headlines, Jethani offers a compelling way forward for anyone caught off guard by the election of Trump and the rise of the alt-right movement.
