When the Truth Doesn’t Seem to Matter: The Affordances of Disciplinary Argument in the Era of Post-truth

IF 1.9 1区文学 Q2 COMMUNICATION

Written Communication Pub Date : 2023-02-17 DOI:10.1177/07410883221148676

R. Ferretti

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

A disquieting aspect of some contemporary public discourse is its seeming indifference to or abandonment of any pretense to truth. Among other things, unsubstantiated and misleading claims have been made about the efficacy of vaccines and other purported treatments for SARS-COVID, the 2020 U.S. presidential election, and the January 6, 2021, insurrection on the U.S. Capitol. In addition, a spate of legislation restricting classroom discussion and instruction related to race, bias, privilege, and discrimination has been or is pending passage in U.S. state legislatures. These restrictions are antithetical to core functions of education, which are to inculcate the values, virtues, and advanced literacy skills that support democratic deliberation about controversial issues. This article discusses the increasing political polarization and partisan attacks on the processes of education and the threats to liberal democracy posed by this disregard for the truth. In addition, it reviews the cultural and psychological factors that increase our susceptibility to misinformation and presents a perspective about the pursuit of truth that highlights the educational affordances of disciplinary inquiry, democratic deliberation, and reasonable argumentation. The contemporary challenges are manifestations of long-standing political and cultural divisions, and their mitigation will depend on developing communities of informed citizens that are committed to the values and virtues that are foundational to liberal democracy.

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当真理似乎无关紧要:后真理时代学科论证的启示

一些当代公共话语的一个令人不安的方面是它似乎对任何对真理的伪装漠不关心或放弃。除其他外，关于疫苗和其他据称治疗SARS-COVID的有效性，2020年美国总统大选以及2021年1月6日美国国会大厦的叛乱，都提出了未经证实和误导性的说法。此外，美国各州立法机构已经或即将通过一系列限制课堂上有关种族、偏见、特权和歧视的讨论和教学的立法。这些限制与教育的核心功能背道而驰，教育的核心功能是灌输价值观、美德和高级读写技能，以支持对有争议问题的民主审议。本文讨论了日益加剧的政治两极分化和党派对教育过程的攻击，以及这种无视真相对自由民主构成的威胁。此外，它回顾了增加我们对错误信息敏感性的文化和心理因素，并提出了追求真理的观点，强调了纪律调查、民主审议和合理论证的教育启示。当代的挑战是长期存在的政治和文化分歧的表现，缓解这些挑战将取决于发展中国家的知情公民社区，这些公民致力于作为自由民主基础的价值观和美德。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Written Communication COMMUNICATION-

CiteScore

3.90

自引率

15.80%

发文量

期刊介绍： Written Communication is an international multidisciplinary journal that publishes theory and research in writing from fields including anthropology, English, education, history, journalism, linguistics, psychology, and rhetoric. Among topics of interest are the nature of writing ability; the assessment of writing; the impact of technology on writing (and the impact of writing on technology); the social and political consequences of writing and writing instruction; nonacademic writing; literacy (including workplace and emergent literacy and the effects of classroom processes on literacy development); the social construction of knowledge; the nature of writing in disciplinary and professional domains.