The Empiricism Strikes Back: Strategies for Avoiding a Post-truth World

Abstract

Despite a seismic shift in humanity’s ability to locate, analyze, and share data, we nevertheless appear to be careening toward a “post-truth” world in which little matters beyond whatever people want to believe. The challenge before us, then, is to become more careful consumers of information as a means of self-empowerment. Though national and international institutions can aid in this effort, this chapter submits that this form of empowerment must necessarily take root at the individual-level. Toward this end, after documenting scholarly research on the patterns and pitfalls of motivated reasoning, the chapter offers readers a concise set of strategies for thinking about and evaluating empirical evidence in global affairs. Only by treating the objective pursuit of knowledge about our world as a shared value—i.e., to treat the pursuit of accuracy as its own ethos—can we begin to talk with, rather than past, one another about the most pressing issues of our time. Absent such a shared commitment, those in power may be increasingly able to construct reality as they see fit, and with little fear of censure from their followers.