Speaking Truth in the Post-Truth Era

In this paper, an attempt was made to analyze the phenomenon of post-truth at two levels: at the level of the struggle for modal power and at the level of changing rhetorical devices. Based on the definition of the modal power of Steve Fuller, a study of its ontological, epistemological and linguistic premises in the history of philosophy is presented, on the basis of which one can see its transhistorical, antagonistic and hegemonic character. Considering post-truth as a struggle to establish the rules of the game, one can discover new opportunities in the modern era. Post-truth marks a change in public perception of public rhetoric. When there are too many facts, people are more oriented to the emotional component of the speaker’s speech and to the absence of a gap between the act of utterance and its content. Because of this, the paper analyzes the possibilities of parrhesia in the modern world. It is suggested that in the neoliberal logic of capitalism and in the post-information world, the figure of a negative paresiast comes to the fore, which, on the one hand, speaks from itself and causes an emotional effect, and on the other it is more and more alienated from the knowledge that it possesses.