In ancient Greek, the word "logos" meant many things. HeraclitusAn ancient Greek philosopher. He thought that change was central to the universe. used it to mean "knowledge", while for AristotleA student of Plato, tutor to Alexander the Great and the father of political philosophy. it meant "reasoned discourse". Translators of the Bible gave it a new meaning, more familiar to us: "word".

All of this goes to show just how much the ideas of knowledge, reason, speech and words are entangled in our thinking. Since the beginning of thinking itself, we have believed that we can arrive at truth by talking and reasoning with each other.

In the 18th Century, some began to argue that this should involve everyone, not just the wealthy and educated. They claimed that the more people spoke about a subject, the more likely it was that we would get to the truth. This principle became the foundation of modern democracyA system of government based on the idea of rule by the people..

But according to political theorists, the great strength of democracy is also its greatest weakness.

People having the freedom to debate and discuss allows them to get at the truth. But if they start to believe things that are obviously false, then they inject these falsehoods into the public discourseAny public written or spoken communication through which people can share their ideas and thoughts about decisions and the decision making process. and undermine the truth.

Experts warn there are many threats to truth. One of the biggest is false news spread on social media.

Although social media companies have been told for many years that their websites are being used to spread false news, they have taken little action.

Critics say Elon MuskA South African-born entrepreneur whose companies have included the online payment service PayPal. He now controls Twitter, renamed 'X'.'s takeover of TwitterA social media network, now known as X and owned by Elon Musk. has even made misinformation on the platform worse. The number of tweets denying the climate crisis rose by 30% last year.¹

Advances in technology also pose a problem. AI-generated "deep fakesWhen AI is used to make convincing fake video, audio and images." are becoming more realistic. It is now possible to produce believable videos of politicians saying things they never said in real life.

If these threats are not reined in, experts say, democracy could collapse.

Yes: Democracy only works if we can all agree on a common truth. Without this we cannot have reasonable discussions about the best way forward, and democracy becomes no more than a struggle for power.

No: People have always believed false things, and democracy has not suffered. We should have more faith in the strength of democratic systems.

Or: We are looking at this the wrong way round. Our aim should not be to drive out untruth in order to preserve democracy. We must reform democracy in order to preserve the truth.