New Swedish Books, Spring 2018 1
New Swedish Books 22 Alternative Facts Resistance
to facts, alternative facts and fake news are three concepts that have been talked about a lot in the wake of the 2016 US presidential election. In her book Alternative Facts, Åsa Wikforss, professor of theoretical philosophy, enters this debate with a philosophical perspective. Rather than resistance to facts, Wikforss wants to talk about resistance to knowledge. In very readable prose, she shows how philosophy can provide us with the tools we need to counter the enemies of knowledge. How can we distinguish between opinion and truth? How can we identify misleading arguments? The book has a solid theoretical basis, but a practical focus, ending with a final chapter about what we can do and how we should relate to the information around us – as an individual, as a journalist or as a researcher. Åsa Wikforss (b. 1961) Alternative Facts Publisher Fri tanke www.fritanke.se Rights Fri tanke emma.ulvaeus@fritanke.se Works Linguistic Freedom. An Essay on Meaning and Rules published PhD thesis 1996 Photo: Christer Sturmark