PLENARY SPEECH
Venue:
Higher Institute for Applied Studies in Humanities of Tunis, Tunisia
Occasion:
2nd International Conference on Truth and (Mis)Information
Language:
English
Date:
04/12/2019
Length:
0:45. Size:
Media
Type: mp4 (please scroll down below the summary to view)
Summary:
How knowledge is constructed and whose truth is received have always
constituted the focus of human endeavor in the fields of social sciences as
elsewhere. However, the proliferation of knowledge-making paradigms, now accelerated
by ease of publication and dissemination on cyberspace, has yielded a state of
extreme relativization and erosion of what was traditionally canonized as truth
and knowledge. The current landscape amounts to a collapse of the knowledge cartel
and calls for an examination of the status quo, in order to theorize it and to delineate
the lines of corrective or preemptive action. This presentation starts off by identifying
and explaining the traditional rivalries between two major cannons of knowledge
production, namely the scientific and interpretive paradigms. The next step
will be the description and analysis of the effects of the
technologically-mediated, web-based, social-media paradigm on the domain of
knowledge construction. Preliminary analysis reveals a host of gains emanating
from this paradigm shift, with attributes of democratization of
de-commodification of knowledge assets, and an evening of the playing field
allowing more users to contribute their versions of reality. A more sinister
take on this shift will be described as one leading the academy, society, and
the world into a state of chaos obtaining from lack of distinction between what
truth and knowledge are, and what they are not. The final leg of the
presentation suggests the lines of action which can be initiated by individuals
and institutions to offset the effects of the coming destabilization and loss
of meaning.
Keywords:
Knowledge, Truth, Post-Truth, paradigm shift, social media
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