By François Ewald
“Nothing is flimsier than a political regime indifferent to truth; but nothing is more dangerous than a political system intending to prescribe truth. The function of “truth-telling” cannot adopt a legal form, and likewise it would be vain to think that truth resides by its own right within the spontaneous games of communication. The task of truth-telling is a never ending work: it is an obligation from which nobody can be spared, to respecting its complexity. Lest the silence of servitude becomes imposed.”
The issue of “post-truth” is not a new one. On the contrary, it includes the line of questioning regarding the task of truth-telling within the political debate. We will try to shed light on the Nietzschean texts devoted to truth, leaning on a reading of Michel Foucault’s own reading of those texts.