Disinformation, trolling, conspiracies, and campus intolerance are all recent additions to our daily vocabulary that appear to have little in common. But together, they are driving an epistemic crisis: a multi-front challenge to America’s ability to distinguish fact from fiction and elevate truth above falsehood. In his new book, “The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth,” Brookings Senior Fellow Jonathan Rauch uses parallel 18th-century developments of liberal democracy and science to explain what he calls the “Constitution of Knowledge”—our social system for turning disagreement into truth.
On June 22, Rauch debuted his book at Brookings and was joined by journalist Anne Applebaum and author Neal Stephenson for a discussion moderated by Brookings Vice President Darrell West. The speakers explored today’s war on facts and explain how every American can defend objective truth.
Viewers submitted questions for speakers by emailing events@brookings.edu or via Twitter at @BrookingsGov by using #ConstitutionOfKnowledge.
Click here to order a copy of “The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth.”
Agenda
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June 22
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Discussion
Moderator
Darrell M. West Senior Fellow - Center for Technology Innovation, Douglas Dillon Chair in Governmental StudiesPanelist
Anne Applebaum Staff Writer - The Atlantic, Senior Fellow - Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies @anneapplebaum
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