On the 16th of Mars 2026, at Engelsbergs Ironworks, Olof Pettersson will give a talk on “Shared Reality: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle on Truth (and Lies)” at the Engelsbergs Seminar, organized by Axel & Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit.
This is how they descibe the event: “In the Gospel of John (18:38), Pontius Pilate challenges Jesus’ claim to bear witness to the truth with the question, ‘What is truth?’. Despite countless attempts to answer this question, the nature of truth has resisted definitive definition. Yet we persist in invoking it. We aspire to speak the truth, condemn its opposite, and appeal to it in politics, science, and culture. Truth thus appears both as an ideal and an elusive reality, but also as a tool of power. Indeed, the ability to impose a particular version of truth has often been more sought after than truth itself.
In this seminar, we explore the history of truth – how it has been shaped, questioned, and put to use, from the Socratic method of dialogue to authoritative assertions. We examine both the conceptual and philosophical aspects of truth and lies, as well as their practical expressions throughout history. The presentations reflect on questions such as how language affects our conception of truth, how truth operates in scientific practice, and how lies function in political discourse and propaganda: what truth is, what it has been, and what happens when it is no longer shared.”