In the political and media spheres, a battle is raging over different truth claims, the credibility of circulating assertions or their declaration as ‘fake news’. However, the dispute over competing truths is not new or unusual: institutions such as parliaments were formed to deal with controversial claims. Medieval and modern societies adapted rhetorical techniques and strategies from antiquity in various proceedings, for example in court, but also in historiography or to justify religious norms.

The Faculty of History & Philosophy examines the production of evidence and the political instrumentalisation of truth claims across epochs and disciplines. One focus is on the media changes in the communication of such claims. Disputes about shifts in the sovereignty of interpretation in different public spheres are also addressed. In this comparative approach, the problems of factuality, especially in times of crisis and upheaval, are placed in a long-term historical context.