Politicians, scientists, experts, specialists and even philosophers frequently claim to be right and to have understood how things ultimately are. Yet at the same time they know this can't plausibly be the case. In the history of humankind there is no theory that has been shown to be definitive, no claim that cannot be disputed. Nor can we imagine a time when such dispute will come to an end.
Should we give up the very idea that it is possible to be definitively right? Would this usher in a new era of compromise? Or is the possibility of being right essential to progress and culture, without which we risk violence and conflict?
Author of Freedom in Age of Alternative Facts Santiago Zabala, pragmatic epistemologist Corine Besson and expert of Indian thought Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad clash over whether it is ever possible to be definitely right about anything. Rana Mitter hosts.
The Institute of Art and Ideas features videos and articles from cutting edge thinkers discussing the ideas that are shaping the world, from metaphysics to string theory, technology to democracy, aesthetics to genetics. Subscribe today!
26