Open AccessWalter Benjamin’s Concept of History and the plague of post-truth
Author(s) -
Marco Schneider,
Ricardo Medeiros Pimenta
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
international journal of information ethics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1614-1687
DOI - 10.29173/irie280
Subject(s) - false accusation , faith , allegory , plague (disease) , philosophy , phenomenon , romance , alienation , history , art history , literature , epistemology , art , law , ancient history , political science
Tomas Aquinas defined truth as the correspondence between things and understanding. Castro Alves paints the horror of the slave nautical traffic. In his essay On the Concept of History, Walter Benjamin reminds us: “The tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the ‘emergency situation’ in which we live is the rule.” This ‘emergency situation’ was Fascism. Albert Camus defended his romance La Peste against the accusation of Roland Barthes that is was “dehors de l’histoire”, pointing out that it was not only about the recent historical phenomenon of Fascism, but also about the permanent risk of its rebirth. Agnes Heller associates faith with prejudice and alienation. The following article will explore the Thomist concept of truth, Benjamin’s concept of history, Camus’ allegory of the plague, Agnes Heller’s notion of faith and Castro Alves’ powerful denouncement of slave traffic, to better criticize the phenomenon of post-truth, a rebirth of fascist information practices.