La Voz de Galicia – January 13, 2023 →
This Saturday, January 14, World Logic Day is celebrated, an ephemeris that began in 2019, promoted by UNESCO and the International Council of Philosophy and Human Sciences (CIPSH), with the intent of «drawing the attention of interdisciplinary scientific circles and the greater public to the intellectual history, and the theoretical importance about the practical repercussions of logic.» And the truth is that reading the news these days, one wonders about the role of logic in our lives and in our way of understanding what happens around us. According to the Galician Royal Academy, logic and the «science that studies the intellectual processes by which to arrive at true knowledge.» But what does true knowledge mean in the era of post-truth? Post-truth, also according to the Galician Royal Academy, is «the aggregate facts or affirmations without objective foundation that connect with the emotions of the receptor and that, propagated repeatedly, influences public opinion and are considered to be true.» And unfortunately, what this term has shown us is that those lies changed into truths are the ones that are stirring the world. It seems that little by little we have stopped reflecting, questioning where things that count as if they were true come from, and by the way we lose our capacity to tell the difference between truths, semi-truths, and lies…
UNESCO says that the celebration of World Logic Day «may contribute to the promotion of a culture of peace, dialogue and mutual understanding,» but how can we restore logic in our lives when everything around us pushes us to the contrary? What tools can we count on to fight against post-truth?
