Academic freedom and the fallacy of a post-truth era

Abstract

The belief that we are living in a post-truth age raises a number of complex, paradoxical questions. Does it suggest, for example, that truth no longer matters? Or, that the idea of truth no longer exists? The university, of course, has long been associated with the interests of truth – not only in searching for truth, but in telling the truth. This is made evident in its emphasis on logic, rationality, deliberation, debate, reason, contemplation, reflection and academic freedom. Truth, and its ensuing perspectives, perceptions, agreements and conflicts, are what makes a university what it is. As such, the university is as enmeshed in versions of truth, as it is in versions of power – which serves only to confirm the necessity for a continuous interrogation of these truths, and hence, power. In principle, academic freedom infers that both members of staff and students at universities have the right to engage in intellectual engagement and debate, without fear of censorship. In practice, however, when we take stock of academic freedom in spaces of higher education, we see growing patterns of shutting down, and closing off, rather than opening up. The interest of this article, therefore, is to consider how the university can remain discursively open to that which is new, unfamiliar and unpopular, while simultaneously, doing no harm – either to itself or its students.

Keywords:

• Post-truth era
• academic freedom
• intellectual engagement
• power

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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Notes on contributors

Nuraan Davids

Nuraan Davids is a Professor of Philosophy of Education in the Department of Education Policy Studies in the Faculty of Education at Stellenbosch University. She is a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University (2020–2021). She is a coeditor of the Routledge series World Issues in the Philosophy and Theory of Higher Education. Her most recent book publications include these works coauthored with Y. Waghid: Teaching, Friendship and Humanity (Singapore, 2020); Teachers Matter: Educational Philosophy and Authentic Learning (Rowman & Littlefield, Lexington Series, 2020).