Is reason no more than a powerful tool of oppression? Will post-truth turn out to be a good thing? Are emotions a better guide to life than rationality?

In this issue of IAI News, we’ll be testing the limits of reason. Each of our contributors will be arguing whether or not we it's time to abandon reason, examine its impact and go in search of new ways to understand the world.

In a time of uncertainty and doubt, many think reason alone leads to truth. But in a world where “post-truth” and “alternative facts” have taken hold, it’s no longer clear that reason is destined to put us on the right path. Nor is it clear that reason and rationality are the neutral but powerful tools they once seemed. Is the enlightenment project over? Should we be sceptical of the claims of logic and rationality and pursue intuition and emotion instead? Or would this allow blind prejudice to rule?

In Defence of Post-Truth
Steve Fuller – post-modern sociologist at Warwick
Could post-truth actually be a good thing? Leading the attack on reason, Fuller argues that truth is a redundant concept best consigned to the heap of failed philosophical projects.

Intuition vs Reason
Berit Brogaard – philosopher and author of Transient Truths
Might emotions be a better guide to life? Taking a different approach, Brogaard picks apart how we make choices, arguing that gut feelings should replace reason as our primary form of decision-making.

Reason, The Enlightenment, and Post-Truth Politics
Peter Hacker – Emeritus Oxford philosopher and Wittgenstein scholar
Is it time to revive the dream of the Enlightenment? Coming to reason’s defence, Hacker examines the consequences of post-truth, arguing that “the inevitable price for disregarding facts is yet to be paid. But the bills are starting to come in”.

What We Cannot Know
Marcus Du Sautoy – Oxford mathematician and Professor for the Public Understanding of Science
Does knowledge have limits? In this piece Du Sautoy challenges the authority of science and questions reason’s ability to answer the fundamental questions.

The Iron Cage of Reason
Véronique Mottier – Cambridge sociologist specialising in sexuality
Is reason no more than a powerful tool of oppression? Next, Mottier debunks the idea that reason is a neutral path to truth, arguing that it represents a “key pillar of male domination over women”.

Trump: The Post-Modern Nightmare
Alison Milbank - Theologian at Nottingham University
Does Trump's success reveal the dark side of post-modernism? Milbank makes the case that truth is perspectival, but that it can be just as compelling as lies.

The March of Truth
Peter Cameron - Award-winning Emeritus Professor of Mathematics
Truth and reason are being assualted from all sides - is it time we fought back? Completing the issue, Cameron argues that we need to defend truth against its detractors or we might just lose it forever.