EUGLOH Open University – Facts and Fictions

‘Fact’ and ‘Fiction’ are terms that became increasingly important, especially in the context of AI, “alternative truths”, conspiracy theories or the social and medical debates around the Covid 19 Pandemic. With this series we wish to present various perspectives that help us understand how these terms work and mean differently in different disciplines, diverse discourses and various historical periods. Although the terms seem contradictory, they are frequently overlapping, informing each other, or not mutually exclusive. We will be listening to talks given by expert researchers coming for diverse academic fields addressing the intricate interrelatedness of these terms from their own point of view. Why and how should these terms be distinguished? Are there context in which such distinctions are impossible or irrelevant? What are the dilemmas faced by scholarly / expert communities regarding the status of phenomena as facts or fictions? And how may representation of truths change the represented phenomena themselves? Number of ECTS: 3