Have we entered a post-truth era where feelings and personal opinion matter more than objective facts?
In his dialogue Protagoras, Plato says that the wisdom of Thales and the other Seven Sages was reflected in the brief but memorable remarks they each uttered when they met. In this spirit we put together a list of thought-provoking and insigthful quotes from our panel debates at Thales Day (alphabetically organized):
“I have great respect for politicians who say that there are better ways to spend our money even though the climate is warming. But to say that you do not believe in it, I think is a very strange way to approach the research.”
- Dorthe Dahl-Jensen (Climate Scientist)
“It is true that a lot more people have now got a voice... and that is good for democracy. But we have to have a society that is built on trust to the extent that we recognize, that some people know more than others... and I think it is a bit in danger at the moment.”
- Dorthe Dahl-Jensen (Climate Scientist)
"My ideal is that these things will be met with public education. That is to say that it is not without consequence to say something that is not true. It has to involve a risk for a politician to say something that is not true. This is why we are all very happy that we have journalists even though they are annoying many of them."
- Bertel Haarder (Politician- longest serving minister)
“That is the difficulty of freedom and enlightenment. It is easier to go without knowledge and kid yourself.”
- Bertel Haarder (Politician- longest serving minister)
Martin Krasnik (Journalist, Editor-in-chief): "There are very few politicians who make an effort to say something meaningful. The closer they are to the centre of power the less this effort is, and the closer Bertel has been to the financial ministry the harder it has been for him to say something meaningful.” Bertel Haarder (Politician- longest serving minister): “There is some truth to that.”
“We are talking about enlightenment. It is not something that we can just take for granted. From the beginning of the enlightenment there has been a counter-enlightenment. The French Revolution was followed by counter-enlightenment, and this has continued throughout the 19th and 20th century."
- Martin Krasnik (Journalist, Editor-in-chief)
“Thales was the first philosopher. He set philosophy in motion in Asia Minor, and his claim was that everything is water. The question is, is that a pre-post-factual claim? It seems to be untrue because anyone can see that not all is water. His claim was that you can see that water becomes air when it evaporates, and that it becomes earth when it settles and if you light it up, air becomes fire. All elements in the world are created from water. This was a claim that strongly contradicted our senses, and if the word had existed back then they could easily have said that it is not factual. Despite this, he did have a point: That you can say something that is seemingly untrue, and still be on to something.”
- Ole Thyssen (Philosopher)
“Well, democracy is not about truth- you don't say that one party has the truth whereas the other is lying…There are many different truths, and what counts is to figure out in what way can you get a majority. And in this struggle it can be hard sometimes not to overbid or twist things because of specific interests.”
- Ole Thyssen (Philosopher)
“I have never, while watching politicians debate during an election, heard a politician from one party say to the other; "I never thought of that, you are right". It is not something they say because they disagree at a fundamental level. It is a clash between fundamental principles of the various political parties. It is a clash between opinions, and an opinion is not something that can simply be changed- it is also a way of viewing the world. A certain pattern is formed, and I think that this neither can or should change. The idea that all people think the same is a terrible idea.”
- Ole Thyssen (Philosopher)