It is often assumed that all manipulation of truth follows a similar format. However, an examination of the way that ‘post-truth politics,’ the strategies, politicians and communities that...Show moreIt is often assumed that all manipulation of truth follows a similar format. However, an examination of the way that ‘post-truth politics,’ the strategies, politicians and communities that consciously manipulate facts to alter the ‘truth’ of their audience for political gains, and historiographic metafiction, a genre of postmodern literary texts that interpret history while simultaneously critically assessing and questioning the ‘truth’ they construct in their interpretation, shows that both post-truth politics and historiographic metafiction manipulate truth for completely different purposes. Yet, little research has been done on how these manipulations of truth work and how they differ. This thesis studies how truth is manipulated in post-truth politics and historiographic metafiction respectively, how these manipulations differ and overlap and what this means for future research on neutralizing or repurposing the manipulation of truth by post-truth politics.Show less
This thesis offers an analysis of the development of Salman's Rushdie's work through a close reading of two early novels (Midnight's Children and The Satanic Verses) and two most recent novels (The...Show moreThis thesis offers an analysis of the development of Salman's Rushdie's work through a close reading of two early novels (Midnight's Children and The Satanic Verses) and two most recent novels (The Golden House and Quichotte). The research question is to establish whether a major change in style has taken place. The premise is that a shift seems to have taken place from what Brian McHale calls the ontological dominant in postmodernism to an ethical and moral dominant. This thesis focuses particularly on typical postmodern topics such as the questioning of the ontological relationship between reality and truth, since Rushdie’s style of fantastical writing invites such a focus.Show less
What is the Internet? What do we do with it? How does it affect our lives? How is our perception of the world changed because of it? And is there such a ‘thing’ as the virtual world? This thesis...Show moreWhat is the Internet? What do we do with it? How does it affect our lives? How is our perception of the world changed because of it? And is there such a ‘thing’ as the virtual world? This thesis explores how the virtual world is disclosed to us through the Internet and how this disclosing in turn change our understanding of- and behavior (Being) in the real world. I claim that, because disclosing and disclosedness relate in a primordial way to the phenomenon of truth, the radical difference in the way the virtual world is disclosed to us in turn transforms the way truth is found by us and what truth is for us. Truth has become privatized. Therefore, the Internet is an origin. Every origin comes at a loss. In our case access to primal truth, as envisioned by Heidegger in The Question Concerning Technology. This inaccessibility means that the previous disclosedness of world will be closed off and sink into oblivion, a fate hidden in coining our day and age the post-truth era.Show less
The term post-truth politics has become increasingly popular and more frequently used since 2016, a time that has also coincided with Donald Trump becoming the president of the United States of...Show moreThe term post-truth politics has become increasingly popular and more frequently used since 2016, a time that has also coincided with Donald Trump becoming the president of the United States of America and of the growing global popularity of populist politics. To properly understand post-truth politics an analysis of political truths, lies, and bullshit are necessary, as is a broader investigation and analysis of society in general, specifically it’s media. This thesis seeks to investigate and analyse what post-truth politics exactly is and also answer whether or not such a term is describing a new political phenomenon, because if post-truth politics is not describing a new political phenomenon then the use of the term seems to be unjustified.Show less
Post-truth politics influences and challenges democracies around the world. Yet, influential political theories like Habermas’s seem unequipped to deal with it, as they are based on the premise...Show morePost-truth politics influences and challenges democracies around the world. Yet, influential political theories like Habermas’s seem unequipped to deal with it, as they are based on the premise that power is necessarily truth-sensitive. In this thesis I have confronted post-truth politics, defined as the phenomenon in which discourses that are unconcerned with truth still are power-bestowing, with Habermas' theory of communicative action. In doing so, I argue that that there is power beyond (reference to) truth. The everyday phenomenon of post-truth discourses is thus used to assess the implicit premises in our thinking, so that eventually better solutions to deal with the problems of post-truth politics can be found.Show less
The aim of this thesis is to examine Henri-Georges Clouzot’s questioning of French morality in La Vérité (1960). La Vérité, which translates as The Truth, is not merely a courtroom drama about a...Show moreThe aim of this thesis is to examine Henri-Georges Clouzot’s questioning of French morality in La Vérité (1960). La Vérité, which translates as The Truth, is not merely a courtroom drama about a crime passionnel; a closer look reveals that this film directed by Clouzot does not aim to judge its accused; instead, it is society’s morality that is put on trial. Viewing La Vérité resembles being prosecuted for lack of self-reflection. Clouzot holds up a mirror to the audience who are helplessly subjected to witnessing how Dominque Marceau becomes entangled deeper and deeper in a web of moral prejudice and prejudgement, only to realise that the spider is not solely the président des assises, nor the jury; it is primarily the observer who is responsible for Marceau’s predicament. In short, the truth seems susceptible to moral standards, but how, then, is the truth in fact true? And, moreover, how can truth and justice be compatible when morality interferes? Obscured by a dramatic veil of passion and beauty, these are questions that Clouzot presents his 1960s French audience and, although it was over fifty years ago, these are still very relevant questions to address. By means of his inconclusive subtlety, Clouzot asks for an active-reflexive commitment to his pursuit and he expects the viewer to put in effort and contribute by taking a standpoint through active reasoning and reflective thinking. Although engaging and innovative, La Vérité leaves a bitter taste as the ending is disquieting to an audience who accept the mirror that Clouzot is handing and take a close and honest look at its reflection.Show less
Master thesis | Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (MSc)
open access
A shared understanding of the world may seem to be absolutely 'true', because empirical experience may confirm its legitimacy. I illustrate and argue that such belief in an 'all encompassing truth'...Show moreA shared understanding of the world may seem to be absolutely 'true', because empirical experience may confirm its legitimacy. I illustrate and argue that such belief in an 'all encompassing truth' requires a deceptive illusion that the collective of individuals together uphold and by which each individual perpetuates her of his own deception and that of the others. This thesis discusses the results of an in depth experience with the construction of what is the 'truth' in the experience of participants in a 'cult'. This argument is then used to reflect on the origins of the life world that may underlie any certainty that academic conceptions of the world conjure up.Show less
