Published since May 1, 1979

Analyse & Kritik

Journal of Philosophy and Social Theory

ISSN: 2365-9858

Edited by: Michael Baurmann, Anton Leist, Ulf Tranow

About this journal

ANALYSE & KRITIK

is devoted to the fundamental issues of empirical and normative social theory
is directed at social scientists and social philosophers who combine commitment to political and moral enlightenment with argumentative rigour and conceptual clarity
develops social theorizing in connection with analytical philosophy and philosophy of science
promotes the dialogue between Anglo-American and Continental traditions in the social sciences and ethics
publishes articles in English

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Topics

Volume 43 Issue 2

November 2021

Publicly Available December 22, 2021

Frontmatter

Page range: i-iii

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December 22, 2021

Editorial: Post-truth and Democracy

Page range: 261-264

December 22, 2021

Are we Really Past Truth? A Historian’s Perspective

Sophia Rosenfeld

Page range: 265-283

Abstract

The prevalence of the term post-truth suggests that we have, in the last few years, moved from being members of societies dedicated to truth to being members of ones that cannot agree on truth’s parameters and, even worse, have given up trying. But is this really what has happened? The author argues that, under the sway of the Enlightenment, truth has actually been unstable and a source of contention in public life ever since the founding moment for modern democracies in the late eighteenth century; the ‘post’ in ‘post-truth’ elides this complex history even as it accurately describes some of the conditions of our moment. What that means, though, is that rather than attempt to turn the clock back to past models and practices for restoring the reign of truth, we should be looking for new, post-Enlightenment paradigms for how to define and locate truth in the context of democracy, as well as new mechanisms for making this possible.

December 22, 2021

Post-deliberative Democracy

Joseph Heath

Page range: 285-308

Abstract

Within any adversarial rule-governed system, it often takes time for strategically motivated agents to discover effective exploits. Once discovered, these strategies will soon be copied by all other participants. Unless it is possible to adjust the rules to preclude them, the result will be a degradation of the performance of the system. This is essentially what has happened to public political discourse in democratic states. Political actors have discovered, not just that the norm of truth can be violated in specific ways, but that many of the norms governing rational deliberation can also be violated, not just without penalty, but often for significant political gain. As a result, the level of noise (false or misleading communications) has come to drown out the signal (earnest attempts at deliberation). The post-truth political condition is the cumulative result of innovations developed by actors who adopt an essentially strategic orientation toward political communications.

Publicly Available December 22, 2021

Something Funny Happened on the Way to the Twenty-First Century

Bruce Kuklick

Page range: 309-329

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Abstract

This essay first traces change in, roughly, the epistemology of the humanities from the 1950s to the 21st century. The second section looks at how the meaning and options in moral philosophy altered in more or less the same period. The last and easily most speculative section examines how these changes permeated American culture, and how professional philosophers responded to the challenges of the new political world they inhabited.

Open Access December 22, 2021

Fitting and Fudging: On the Folly of Trying to Define Post-truth

Sharon Rider

Page range: 331-350

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Abstract

I propose that the ‘post-truth condition’, i.e., the vulnerability of our institutions for establishing and negotiating what is true and worth knowing, is not primarily a pathology, a susceptibility to external manipulation or coercion, as tends to be stressed in the literature, but has first and foremost to do with the unraveling of certain epistemic assumptions. In analogy with T.S. Eliot’s modernist notion that the attempt to capture and concretize an experience or a state of mind requires ‘objective correlatives’ which it conveys, I argue that the trope of post-truth to express the embattled status of expertise can be understood in terms of failed symbolization. In the second section, I spell out what this means in terms of Donald Davidson’s discussion of the problem of defining truth. In the last section, I propose a ‘poetics of political theory’ for understanding the post-truth condition.

Open Access December 22, 2021

Democracy Naturalized: In Search of the Individual in the Post-truth Condition

Steve Fuller

Page range: 351-366

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Abstract

This article takes a ‘naturalistic’ look at the historically changing nature of the individual and its implications for the terms on which democracy might be realized, starting from classical Athens, moving through early debates in evolutionary theory, to contemporary moral and political thought. Generally speaking, liberal democracy sees individuality as the mark of an evolutionarily mature species, whereas socialist democracy sees it as the mark of an evolutionary immature species. Overall, the individual has been ‘de-naturalized’ over time, resulting in the indeterminate figure who thrives in the post-truth condition.

December 22, 2021

Behind the Screens: Post-truth, Populism, and the Circulation of Elites

William T. Lynch

Page range: 367-393

Abstract

The alleged emergence of a ‘post-truth’ regime links the rise of new forms of social media and the reemergence of political populism. Post-truth has theoretical roots in the interdisciplinary field of Science and Technology Studies (STS), with sociologists of science arguing that both true and false claims should be explained by the same kinds of social causes. Most STS theorists have sought to deflect blame for post-truth, while at the same time enacting a normative turn, looking to deconstruct truth claims and subject expertise to criticism. Steve Fuller has developed a positive case for post-truth in science, arguing that post-truth democratizes science. I criticize this argument and suggest an alternative approach that draws on the prehistory of the field in the 1930s and 1940s, when philosophers and sociologists sought to define the social conditions necessary for reliable knowledge production that might stem mass media irrationalism.

Open Access December 22, 2021

Symmetry as a Guide to Post-truth Times: A Response to Lynch

Steve Fuller

Page range: 395-411

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Abstract

William Lynch has provided an informed and probing critique of my embrace of the post-truth condition, which he understands correctly as an extension of the normative project of social epistemology. This article roughly tracks the order of Lynch’s paper, beginning with the vexed role of the ‘normative’ in Science and Technology Studies , which originally triggered my version of social epistemology 35 years ago and has been guided by the field’s ‘symmetry principle’. Here the pejorative use of ‘populism’ to mean democracy is highlighted as a failure of symmetry. Finally, after rejecting Lynch’s appeal to a hybrid Marxian–Darwinism, Carl Schmitt and Thomas Hobbes are contrasted en route to what I have called ‘quantum epistemology’.

General Part

December 22, 2021

Capital, Ideology, and the Liberal Order

Nick Cowen, Vincent Geloso

Page range: 413-435

Abstract

Thomas Piketty’s Capital and Ideology (2020) offers a powerful critique of ideological justifications for inequality in capitalist societies. Does this mean we should reject capitalist institutions altogether? This paper defends some aspects of capitalism by explaining the epistemic function of market economies and their ability to harness capital to meet the needs of the relatively disadvantaged. We support this classical liberal position with reference to empirical research on historical trends in inequality that challenges some of Piketty’s interpretations of the data. Then we discuss the implications of this position in terms of limits on the efficacy of participatory governance within firms and the capacity of the state to levy systematic taxes on wealth.

Volume 43 (2021)

Volume 42 (2020)

Volume 41 (2019)

Volume 40 (2018)

Volume 39 (2017)

Volume 38 (2016)

Volume 37 (2015)

Issue 1-2

Volume 36 (2014)

Volume 35 (2013)

Volume 34 (2012)

Volume 33 (2011)

Volume 32 (2010)

Volume 31 (2009)

Volume 30 (2008)

Volume 29 (2007)

Volume 28 (2006)

Volume 27 (2005)

Volume 26 (2004)

Volume 25 (2003)

Volume 24 (2002)

Volume 23 (2001)

Volume 22 (2000)

Volume 21 (1999)

Volume 20 (1998)

Volume 19 (1997)

Volume 18 (1996)

Volume 17 (1995)

Volume 16 (1994)

Volume 15 (1993)

Volume 14 (1992)

Volume 13 (1991)

Volume 12 (1990)

Volume 11 (1989)

Volume 10 (1988)

Volume 9 (1987)

Issue 1-2

Volume 8 (1986)

Volume 7 (1985)

Volume 6 (1984)

Volume 5 (1983)

Volume 4 (1982)

Volume 3 (1981)

Volume 2 (1980)

Volume 1 (1979)

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Submit

Submission of manuscripts: Only original versions of articles will be reviewed for publication. Authors are requested to send an electronic copy of their manuscript to

baurmann@phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de

leist@access.uzh.ch.

Hard copies should be delivered to the postal address of the editors (see "Editorial"). Please provide the full title of the article, as well as the author’s name, affiliation and present address on the cover page of the manuscript. The text can be sent in any established format, but LaTeX is preferred. Manuscripts should not exceed 20 printed pages (about 70.000 characters).

Abstracts: An English abstract of no more than 150 words should be attached.

Footnotes: Notes should be kept to a minimum.

Quotations: Use double quotation marks for quoted text or concepts. Single quotation marks should be used for figurative or stylistic usage and for quotations within quotations. Longer quotations should be indented and quotation marks added.

References: For citation and references orient yourself on the Chicago Manual of Style to be found here.

Hybrid Open Access

In this journal, authors have the option to publish their article under an open access license. Open Access allows you as an author to retain copyright and share your findings with colleagues and interested parties worldwide without any restraints.
Please note that authors from institutions with which we have a transformative agreement can publish open access without paying an article processing charge (APC). More information on the eligible institutions and articles can be found under the "Funding and Support" tab here.

Editorial

Editors

Michael Baurmann
Universität Düsseldorf
Sozialwissenschaftliches Institut
Universitätsstr. 1
D-40225 Düsseldorf
Michael.Baurmann@analyse-und-kritik.net　

Anton Leist
Ethik-Zentrum
Universität Zürich
Zollikerstr. 117
CH-8008 Zürich
leist@access.uzh.ch　

Prof. Dr. Ulf Tranow
Universität Düsseldorf
Institut für Sozialwissenschaften
Universitätsstr. 1
D-40225 Düsseldorf
tranow@phil.uni-duesseldorf.de

(Deutsch)

Online ISSN: 2365-9858
Print ISSN: 0171-5860
Type: Journal
Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Oldenbourg
First published: May 1, 1979
Publication Frequency: 2 Issues per Year