A Democratic Theory of Truth

Reviews / Votes

"A sustained attack on the idea that there is objective truth, which at once compels the assent of and liberates those who discover it. . . . Using the later work of Ludwig Wittgenstein as a guide, Zerilli discusses two thinkers who challenge the appearance/reality binary, Hannah Arendt and Michel Foucault. The author makes a strong case for understanding their work as serving a humble realism rather than Plato's grandiose realism." * Choice * "A Democratic Theory of Truth is a powerful work that reconceptualizes truth and realism in terms of ordinary language and citizenship. Zerilli's radical and illuminating use of ordinary language philosophy mobilizes Ludwig Wittgenstein, Cora Diamond, and Stanley Cavell to defend a realistic orientation to the world that allows us to face reality-the most difficult but perhaps the only way now to defend truth and democracy." -- Sandra Laugier, Universite Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne "In this groundbreaking book, Zerilli offers a much-needed reassessment of the 'post-truth' debate, criticizing both truth denialists and apologists of objective truths. Brilliantly drawing from Arendt, Foucault, and Wittgenstein, she shows that the value and force of truth depend on us, democratic citizens. With exceptional clarity, this masterful work reshapes our way of thinking about the relationships between truth and democracy. A must-read." -- Daniele Lorenzini, University of Pennsylvania "Democracy demands commitment to truth. But what if the most obvious threats to truth today, from cynical demagogues to AI chatbots, were actually nourished by a dangerous overestimation of what truth can do for politics? In this lucid, sober, and timely book, Zerilli combines acute political intelligence and theoretical sophistication to present a powerfully restrained account of truth as a value within rather than above the irreducibly plural field of political opinion." -- Patchen Markell, Cornell University