Essay 4 days ago • Reading time 16 - 21 minutes • Remind me later In premodern times, truth offered hope of redemption in the afterlife. As modern society emerged, truth brought us hope of a better world for our descendants. In the postmodern era, truth freed us from false authorities and pretentious ideologies. But what does our own truth still aspire to achieve, other than the infinite satisfaction of our needs? Truth be sold: how truth became a product Founding editor Rob WIJNBERG
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Truth be sold: how truth became a productoutside human and earthly reality. To put it differently: Truth is not found in the sensory reality around us, but given to us by a "higher"
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Essay 4daysago•Readingtime16-21minutes•Remindmelater In premodern times, truth offered hope of redemption in the afterlife. As modern society emerged, truth brought us hope of a better world for our descendants. In the postmodern era, truth freed us from false authorities and pretentious ideologies. But what does our own truth still aspire to achieve, other than the infinite satisfaction of our needs?
Truth be sold: how truth became a product Foundingeditor
The premodern era: truth as faith ThehistoryofwesternthinkinghasbeensummarisedbyBritishphilosopherAlfredWhiteheadas"aseriesoffootnotestoPlato".NotbecausePlatosupposedlysaidalltherewastosayabouttheworldinaphilosophicalsensebutbecausehewasthefirsttointroducethedistinctionthatwoulddominatewesternthinkingaboutwhatis"true"and"real"fornearly20centuries:thedistinctionbetweenappearanceandreality.Thisdistinctionwasbasedontheconceptthattheearthlyrealityarounduswasmerelyanillusion,derivedfroma"pure"realityelsewhere.Truth,thePlatonicmodelessentiallyargues,issomething"supernatural"and"superhuman",inthesenseofmetaphysicalortranscendent.Itisbeyondthegraspofhumanunderstanding.Thisdistinctionhasbeenthefoundationofnearlyeveryreligiouspracticethatwouldgrowtobecomeaworldreligionoverthepast2,000years.Inthatrespect,ChristianityandIslaminparticulararereallyjustmythicalvariationsonPlatonicthinkingbasedontheideathatTruthistobefound"outthere"–outsidehumanandearthlyreality.
Toputitdifferently:Truthisnotfoundinthesensoryrealityaroundus,butgiventousbya"higher"realityaboveandoutsideus.AttainingTruthrequiredaleapoffaith–asurrendertothetranscendent.Beholdthebirthofthefirstera:TruthasFaith.Life on earth was so hopeless and desperate for most people that there was no reason to think it would ever get any better. The idea that reality on earth was merely an ‘illusion’ offered some comfort ThistypeoftruthwascharacteristicofthewestfromroughlythreecenturiesbeforeChristto16centuriesafterChrist.
The modern era: truth as knowledge Thistypeofthinkingwaslargelyabandonedaroundthelate16thandearly17thcentury.IfIhadtodescribethismajorshiftinmindsetinspatialterms,Iwouldsaythattruth"camedown",sotospeak–itdescendedfrom"above"to"below"andwentfrom"outofreach"to"withinreach"ofhumanbeings.
Truth changed from something that was given to something that could be found ApivotalfigureinthisshiftwasFrenchphilosopherRenéDescartes,theforefatherofrationalism,wholaidthefoundationfortheideathattheTruthcouldinfactbeknown.LogicandreasoncouldbeusedtocomprehendrealityanddiscovertheTruth.Truthchangedfromsomethingthatwasgiventosomethingthatcouldbefound.Thisperiodbroughtusobjectivityasanideal,aswellastheconceptofprogressandamouldableworld.Beholdthebirthofthesecondera:TruthasKnowledge.Thisnewtypeoftruthwasalsoaccompaniedbyanewzeitgeist.Hopeforredemptiongavewaytohopeforprogress.Themiserythathadseemedsoinescapableforcenturieswassuddenlynolongeranestablishedfact.Andtheideathatsocietywasdefinedbyanimmutablesocialhierarchyimposedfromabovegavewaytoegalitarianideologiesthatwouldbringthestatusquotumblingdown,withJohnStuartMill’sclassicalliberalismandAdamSmith’sfirstforaysintofree-marketthinkingleadingtheway.
The postmodern era: truth as a construct Truthasknowledgewouldremainthedominantworldviewinthewesternworldforatleastthreecenturies,untilitsdeconstructioninthelate19thandearly20thcentury.
Nietzscheactuallyreferredtohisworkas"philosophisingwithahammer",andwithgoodreason:whatthesethinkershaveincommonisthattheyall,intheirownway,smashedthebeliefinaknowableorfindabletruthtosmithereens.Truth,asfarasthesepostmodernistswereconcerned,isneithergivennorfound:truth(nowinlowercaseforthefirsttime)iscreatedbyhumans.In the postmodern era, truth was neither given nor found: truth – now in lower case for the first time – was created by humans
Are we in a fourth era? Obviously,scientificresearchalsotookplaceinthepremodernera;faithintranscendencenevervanishedentirelyinthemodernera,andthepostmoderneradidnotactuallyheraldtheendofhistory.Therearenofirmboundariesbetweentheeras;atmost,itcouldbestatedthatacertainwayofthinkingisslightlymorecharacteristicofoneerathananother.
Post-postmodernity: truth as a product Thistypeoftruthcantraceitsrootsbacktopostmodernism.Thisworldviewwasthephilosophicalsoilinwhichtheidealofthefreemarket–notthevariantproposedbyAdamSmith,butthefreemarketofMiltonFriedmanandAynRand–flourishedandbecamepopular.
The commercialisation of our information Thiseconomisationofourworldviewresultedinthecommercialisationofsociety.Acrucialaspectofthisprocesswasthecommercialisationofourinformationsupply.Evenourmostimportantsourcesofinformation,fromnewsmediatoeducationandresearchagenciesto,morerecently,searchenginesandsocialnetworks:allofthembecameincreasinglybasedon
Just as Big Oil, Big Food, Big Pharma and Big Banks would dominate the oil, food, medicine and financial industry, Big Media would take hold in the ‘information market’ Fromthe1980sonwards,thiscommercialisationofourinformationsupplywasaccompaniedbyawaveofmergersandacquisitions.JustasBigOil,BigFood,BigPharmaandBigBankswoulddominatetheoil,food,medicineandfinancialindustry,BigMediawouldslowlybutsurelytakeholdinthe"informationmarket".
Truth as a way to satisfy a need Asthingsstand,itisdifficulttomakeafirmdistinctionbetweentruthasaconstruct–whichcharacterisedthepostmodernera–andtruthasaproduct,whichIseeasthedefiningcharacteristicofthetimeswelivein.
Consuming your own opinion Politics,forexample,isnotabout"convincingasmanycitizensaspossibletoembracecertainidealstoserveacommoninterest";it’saboutdetermining,formulatingandimplementingwhatacertainsegmentoftheelectorate(the"targetgroup"or"electoraldemographic")thinksandwants.
Truth without a reason why Theabsenceofaliberating,emancipatorycoreis,inmyview,themostimportantcharacteristicthatdistinguishesthetypeoftruthendemicinourtimefromthetypesoftruththatprecededit.Allthosepriortruthsdidseektobeemancipatoryorliberating.
Butwhatdoesourtruthaimtoachieve?Our truth seeks neither redemption nor progress nor change, only satiation Whatdoestruthasaproductwantbeyondsatisfyingourneeds–adinfinitum?Youcouldsay:ourtruthhastakenonanewform,butwithoutanewgoal.Theaimisneitherredemptionnorprogressnorchange,onlysatisfaction.
About the imagesThephotosinTheoDerksen’sseriesDisneyfication,whichwasover20yearsinthemaking,areratherconfusingatfirstglance.Strangedifferencesinsizesandscalemakeyoublinkonceortwice,onlytodiscoverstrangecollisionsbetweenrealityandthestrangelyoversized,grotesquecommercialimages.Disneyficationconfusesusonwheretherealbeginsandthefakeends.Thislong-termstudyofmetropolises,whichincludesBucharest,Berlin,Egypt,Tokyo,Dubai,Chongqing,Shanghai,Beijing,SingaporeandLasVegas,showcasestheintrusive,overpoweringeffectofthesecommercialimages.(LiseStraatsma,imageeditor)See more work by Theo Derksen