Diskurs „post-istine”: gdje je nestala istina u politici?
„Post-truth” discourse: what happened with truth in politics?

Summary/Abstract: This article deals with analysis and interpretations of “post-truth” discourse. The term “post-truth” is surrounded by a set of narratives which came into being during 2016, inspired by the events of Brexit and Donald Trump’s presidential election. Using the approach of critical discourse analysis and insights of Pierre Bourdieu, I construct a framework for collection and analysis of discourse, but also for interpreting it in the context of the discourse-society relation. Using internet search engines, 419 (of which 203 have been analysed) relevant articles have been collected among news sites, online magazines, academic blogs, etc. This content was systemically categorized and presented in a diachronic and thematic manner. After analysis and interpretation, the “posttruth” discourse is found to function as an attempt at drawing the lines of political struggle through presenting a particular interpretation of contemporary political and social phenomena. The key term “truth” is identified in the discourse as an universal value that is currently endangered by populists and demagogues using unregulated media spaces of social networks. The “post-truth” discourse calls upon unification around the ideal of “truth” under the leadership of those which have the greatest insight into “truth” – scientists, experts and even journalists, understood as carriers of epistemic virtue. In the end I discuss the usefulness and future of the term “post-truth”. Even though it attempts to understand and describe contemporary social change, this attempt is burdened by its political demands, and thus doesn’t meet the criteria to make it a useful analytic term in social science. I criticise it’s depoliticizing vision, where “epistemically-deprived” enemies are disqualified in moral terms, denying the legitimacy of their demands and representations. The “post-truth” dis- course also demands the creation of new institutions for the purpose of information control on the internet, opening the gates to arbitrary censorship and concentrating discursive power in narrow groups, all based on an unclear idea of “truth”. The conclusion offers avenues for further research which could help to further understand the discursive-social aspect of “post-truth” as well as the phenomena that inspire it.

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