Truthiness versus educational goods
Three examples from the post-truth era
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11952549 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Henry Lara‐Steidel (0000-0001-6725-0862, The Ohio State University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Publication date | 2025-09-02 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Philosophy of Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0309-8249 • E-ISSN: 1467-9752 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/jopedu/qhaf068 |
| OpenAlex | W4414158110 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 15 |
This article applies the Educational Goods Framework (EGF) developed by Harry Brighouse, Helen F. Ladd, Susanna Loeb, and Adam Swift to educational interventions addressing the challenges of the post-truth era. The term ‘post-truth’ refers to a context where emotional appeals and personal beliefs overshadow objective facts in shaping public opinion and political debate. A related concept, truthiness, describes the appearance of truth without necessarily being true. The prevalence of disinformation and conspiracy theories, particularly on the Internet and social media, exemplifies this phenomenon. The article uses the EGF’s powerful conceptual tools to sketch out the phenomenon of truthiness and its relationship to schools and education. Following this, the article explores three educational interventions to build resilience against truthiness: (1) enhancing standard educational goods, (2) implementing information literacy programmes, and (3) addressing truthiness directly in the classroom through discussions on controversial topics, as proposed by Glenn Bezalel. The analysis uses the EGF to evaluate these interventions, highlighting that while educational goods can promote individual flourishing, resilience against truthiness is crucial for this flourishing to be realized. The conclusion discusses the implications of using the EGF to address truthiness, emphasizing the need for educational responses to the post-truth era
Context (archaeology · Disinformation · Flourishing · Lifelong learning · Phenomenon · Philosophy of education · Politics · Psychological intervention · Psychological resilience · Reputation · Law, Rights, and Freedoms · Legal Issues in Education · Legal Systems and Judicial Processes
On Education
Educational Goods
Enemies Within
Someone is pulling the strings
Why Education Predicts Decreased Belief in Conspiracy Theories
Dead and Alive
On Bullshit
On Extending the Educational Goods Framework
Educational Goods
Considering Epistemic Violence, Scarcity and Student Voice in Relation to Educational Goods
Does Media Literacy Help Identification of Fake News? Information Literacy Helps, but Other Literacies Don't
| Highly cited | No |
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