Geisteswissenschaftliches Kolleg (2017-2019): Die Arbeitsgruppe "Ästhetik der medialen Wahrheit“

Nach den ersten Schwerpunkten "Inszenierung von Wahrheiten“ und "Macht“ aus den ersten zwei Wochen stand die dritte Woche der Arbeitsgruppe "Die Ästhetik der medialen Wahrheit" des geisteswissenschaftlichen Kollegs VII (2017-2019) unter dem Oberthema "Ignoranz“.

Der Einführungsvortrag von Prof. Dr. Cherian George (Hong Kong Baptist University) beschäftigte sich mit der "Cultivation of Ignorance by Authoritarian Regimes": All over the world, authoritarian governments try to restrict the flow of information and ideas. The most obvious methods include banning media and imprisoning (or even killing) writers. However, these extreme methods can be politically costly for the regime itself, as the history of totalitarianism shows. Therefore, many governments try to control the media in more indirect and subtle ways, including by encouraging “self-censorship”. This lecture surveys 21st century authoritarian states’ resilient and sophisticated attempts to cultivate ignorance of public affairs.

Weitere Themen der von Prof. Dr. Marcel Machill (Universität Leipzig) geleiteten Gruppe in dieser Woche waren: "Fear of the Other: Identity politics and hate propaganda in today’s democracies" und "What future for Enlightenment values?" In recent years, there has been growing doubt over the future of reasoned deliberation as a basis for social organisation. It has been said that we are in an “information age”, but also in a “post-truth” era. What accounts for this paradox? How can societies respond?