Philosophy has a long tradition of rejecting those who claim to know the objective truth. But in an age of disinformation, philosopher Lee McIntyre argues that understanding truth and reality is more critical than ever. In this interview, with Omari Edwards contributing editor of IAI News, they delve into the complex nature of truth, the misuse of doubt, and the vital role philosophers must play in public discourse to combat propaganda and promote clarity.

“If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer.” – Hannah Arendt

In a world where the boundaries between truth and falsehood blur under the weight of disinformation, the quest for reality has never been more critical — or more contentious. Philosophers, however, have been caught with their pants down. Whilst many argued vehemently against the postmodernists and tried to save truth from the critiques of perspectivalism and bias, our tradition was unable to show that objective truth wasn’t a fantasy. As Lee McIntyre puts it, “We have left our weapons on the battlefield, we should not be surprised our enemies have now turned them on us”. In my interview with Lee on his latest award-winning books, Post Truth and On Disinformation, we debate the role of truth, philosophy and the public sphere.