In this NYT audio essay, Sophia Rosenfeld shares a model for engaging in tough conversations for anyone looking to have thoughtful discussions about some of the most fraught issues of our era.
In an age defined by disinformation, it has become almost a cliche to talk about “post-truth politics.” But while truth has been the media’s foremost concern in the era of “fake news,” there has been surprisingly little reflection on what it actually means in the first place.
You’ll find references to “my truth” in plenty of self-help books, and we're frequently encouraged to share our experiences, opinions, and stories about how we perceive ourselves and our views of reality. But is the focus on "my truth" a sign that we no longer believe truth is something that is shared? And what are the stakes for democracy if citizens no longer hold certain truths in common, or even share the same reality? Sophia Rosenfeld takes on these questions in this podcast episode of “Recovering Truth.”
What has patriotism meant over time, and how has civil debate shaped it? Sophia Rosenfeld joins other scholars at the National Constitution Center to discuss patriotism and dissent throughout American history—from the Revolution through the Founding and the Civil War to today.
Sophia Rosenfeld delivers the 2021 Besterman Lecture at Oxford: Around the world, much of our current condition has its roots in conceptions of truth and untruth stemming from the Enlightenment, that is, the very particular cultural context in which democracy was re-envisioned on both sides of the Atlantic in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Rosenfeld explores the paradoxical nature of Enlightenment thinking about truth and its legacy, including both its risks and its enduring promise.
Sophia Rosenfeld delivers a keynote lecture that explores the longer story of present perils of “truth” and “common sense,” back to the Enlightenment and the birth of modern democracy, to the rise of expertise and the continued appeal of the common sense.
Sophia Rosenfeld moderates a discussion with Adrienne LaFrance (The Atlantic) and James McAuley, (The Atlantic contributor and author of The House of Fragile Things, A History of Dreyfus-Era France) for a conversation around the long history of conspiracy theory and its role in political culture, then and now.
India’s Supreme Court judge Justice D Y Chandrachud quoted from “Democracy and Truth” in a recent speech on the need for truth in India’s democracy. Read his full speech here.
A summary of “Democracy and Truth” that helps contribute to the sustainability of your own career, as well as to a form of democracy that supports sustainable careers for others.
At least since the Age of Revolution — which is to say, the end of the eighteenth century — democracy has proven itself peculiarly susceptible to various forms of conspiracism. Today, this conspiratorial tendency in and of democratic politics has been pushed deeper and further than perhaps it otherwise would have gone. So what can be done?
“Fake News. Post-truth. Alternative Facts. Conspiracies. Bot-generated posts. Lies, lies, lies. When will it stop?! We are living in an exciting and disorienting time when truth, it seems, is up for grabs.” Sophia Rosenfeld speaks with teacher, writer, and translator Uli Baer
Ideas and Ideals: is a weekly live radio program that discusses thought and imagination. Arts, politics, religion and belief systems are examined. Hosted by Larry Bensky.
The Colloquy, Harvard University - February 18, 2020
In an interview with Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences magazine, Sophia Rosenfeld discusses her latest book, Democracy and Truth, and explains how lessons from the past can inform conversations about politics today.
Sophia Rosenfeld gives the keynote talk at a Paris21/OECD forum, Building Trust in Data.
Whereas once, our sources for ‘facts’ about the world were limited largely to official statistics or the work of a small group of academics, today, with only a few clicks of a button we can analyze millions of data points or fact-check a friend’s casual assertion. Moreover, from civil society organizations to armchair evangelists, anyone is capable of accessing a dataset and using it to advance a point of view. What does this mean for official statistics? Sophia Rosenfeld begins the forum with a keynote address on the history of truth and democracy.
Your Weekly Constitutional (WETS) - August 29, 2019
These days it seems that the words "democracy" and "truth" are mutually exclusive, but historian Sophia Rosenfeld tells us that that's often been the case in our history. She does, however, acknowledge that today may be a special case, primarily because of the march of technology and also because of the intense political polarization we face. Join us for a disturbing, but fascinating, discussion.
Aaron Freiwald, Managing Partner of Freiwald Law and host of the weekly podcast, Good Law | Bad Law, is joined by University of Pennsylvania History Professor Sophia Rosenfeld to talk about the tenuousness of the truth in democracy.
Interview on The Democracy Test: A Six Part Radio Series and Podcast - November 2, 2018
What happens in a democracy when we can’t believe in anything? When we don’t even believe in our nation’s ability to govern itself? Faith in democracy decays. Participation erodes. The politics of possibility in our nation demand some sense of shared reality and basic level of belief that government can serve the common good. What will be the lasting impact of our current break in truth and faith?
At a time when there is talk of “fake news” and “alternative facts”, the question arises as to the role and status of truth in democracy. In conversation with the historian Sophia Rosenfeld, Alexander Görlach discussed truth and probability, science and faith in liberal democracy.
Kluge Center Director Kevin Butterfield interviews Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the North, Sophia Rosenfeld. This wide-ranging conversation will explore the idea of "common sense" in the political sphere, and what history can teach us about the ways knowledge is created, shared, and validated.
At the French Embassy’s “La Nuit des Idées/Night of Ideas,” Sophia Rosenfeld and Caroline Fredrickson (Georgetown Law) explore the many ways in which, in their recent history, France and the United States have reinvented their institutions and overcome challenges to liberal democracy.
In conversation with Rebecca Solnit, Sophia Rosenfeld considers whether the alleged crisis of truth represents a danger to democratic institutions and, if so, what can be done about it.
Knight First Amendment Institute, Columbia University - September 24, 2021
Sophia Rosenfeld joins Masha Gessen (The New Yorker) and Quinta Jurecic (Brookings Institution) in a panel discussion about political lies and American democracy, organized by the Knight First Amendment Institute.
Two years into Trump’s Presidency, the historian Sophia Rosenfeld reminds us that “democracy insists on the idea that truth both matters and that nobody gets to say definitively what it is.”
The Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education hosts Sophia Rosenfeld, author of "Democracy and Truth: A Short History." She talks about the long-held tensions among citizens in a democracy to determine what the truth is -- rather than relying on an elite class to determine the truth for them.
The University of Pennsylvania - November 15, 2018
How, historically, have democracy and truth been connected to one another? Why is that relationship seemingly in peril now in the U.S. and in much of the world? And what, if anything, can be done in our “post-truth” age?
CRASSH: The Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities at Cambridge University - June 1, 2017
Populism is best understood as a style of politics rather than a specific doctrine. But ever since the eighteenth century, its appeal has depended upon a kind of built-in conspiracy theory: that the current crisis stems from the fact that the real people have been robbed of a power that they once naturally possessed, and the situation can only be rectified by a return to their unjustly neglected 'common' sense. In the age of Paine, this theory helped spur the development of a democratic political order. Yet already by the time of the French Revolution – and to this day, as the current Trump regime in the US demonstrates – a common sense populism threatens to undermine democracy at every turn in ways that this talk spells out.
Sophia Rosenfeld talks about her book, Common Sense: A Political History on the University of Virginia campus while at the Virginia Festival of the Book.
Sophia Rosenfeld explores why truth seems to be under siege in so much of the world today, how we got to this point, and what we might be able to do about it.
Historian Olivier Zunz, UVA Professor of History, and Sophia Rosenfeld discuss Zunz's new biography of Tocqueville, The Man Who Understood Democracy: The Life of Alexis de Tocqueville (Princeton, 2022).