The triumph of mendacity: how democratic certainty collapsed
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30973/esdi.2026.12.1.251Keywords:
truth, mendacity, post-truth, bullshit, democracyAbstract
In this essay, I examine the collapse of democratic certainty, driven by the erosion of a shared factual basis amid the rise of mendacity and epistemic indifference. Across eight sections, I explore from the ontology of bullshit —as radical indifference to truthfulness— and the impact of deepfakes on indexical evidence, to informational saturation, the identitarian role of conspiracies, and other contemporary phenomena. I argue that post-truth transcends mere political falsehood, embodying a structural shift that deteriorates truth as a “common good”. My aim is to diagnose this crisis of legitimacy —amid the crumbling of shared reality— and to acknowledge, with intellectual honesty, the complexity of any viable normative solution.
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