{"product_id":"democracy-and-truth-a-short-history","title":"Democracy and Truth: A Short History","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cblockquote\u003eSophia Rosenfeld's book explores the tension between the wisdom of the crowd and the need for information to be vetted by a learned elite in a democratic world. She traces the history of the relationship between democracy and truth, from the period before the eighteenth-century Age of Revolutions to the rise of populist and technocratic notions of democracy. She concludes by offering suggestions for how to defend the idea of truth against the forces that would undermine it. \u003c\/blockquote\u003e\u003cp\u003e                                                            \u003cstrong\u003eFormat\u003c\/strong\u003e: Hardback\u003cbr\u003e                              \u003cstrong\u003eLength\u003c\/strong\u003e: 224 pages\u003cbr\u003e                              \u003cstrong\u003ePublication date\u003c\/strong\u003e: 31 December 2018\u003cbr\u003e                              \u003cstrong\u003ePublisher\u003c\/strong\u003e: University of Pennsylvania Press\u003cbr\u003e                          \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Fake news,\" wild conspiracy theories, misleading claims, doctored photos, lies peddled as facts, facts dismissed as lies—citizens of democracies increasingly inhabit a public sphere teeming with competing claims and counterclaims, with no institution or person possessing the authority to settle basic disputes in a definitive way.\u003cbr\u003eThe problem may be novel in some of its details—including the role of today's political leaders, along with broadcast and digital media, in intensifying the epistemic anarchy—but the challenge of determining truth in a democratic world has a backstory. In this lively and illuminating book, historian Sophia Rosenfeld explores a longstanding and largely unspoken tension at the heart of democracy between the supposed wisdom of the crowd and the need for information to be vetted and evaluated by a learned elite made up of trusted experts. What we are witnessing now is the unraveling of the détente between these competing aspects of democratic culture.\u003cbr\u003eIn four bracing chapters, Rosenfeld substantiates her claim by tracing the history of the vexed relationship between democracy and truth. She begins with an examination of the period prior to the eighteenth-century Age of Revolutions, where she uncovers the political and epistemological foundations of our democratic world. Subsequent chapters move from the Enlightenment to the rise of both populist and technocratic notions of democracy between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to the troubling trends—including the collapse of social trust—that have led to the rise of our \"post-truth\" public life. Rosenfeld concludes by offering suggestions for how to defend the idea of truth against the forces that would undermine it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e                            \u003cstrong\u003eWeight\u003c\/strong\u003e: 444g                            \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDimension\u003c\/strong\u003e: 221 x 156 x 23 (mm)                            \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN-13\u003c\/strong\u003e: 9780812250848                                                      \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sophia Rosenfeld","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":44095674089722,"sku":"9780812250848","price":19.62,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0522\/4297\/2845\/products\/b81c46c792f7b48ab9c8fbbd9ff75760.jpg?v=1625278936","url":"https:\/\/shulphink.com\/products\/democracy-and-truth-a-short-history","provider":"Shulph Ink","version":"1.0","type":"link"}