Rethinking Scientific Authority in the Post-Truth Era: A Gadamerian Perspective

This article reexamines the crisis of scientific authority in the post-truth era through Hans-Georg Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics. It argues that the erosion of trust in science is not merely driven by misinformation, but by a deeper hermeneutical gap between scientific rationality and historically situated public understanding. Drawing on Gadamer’s concepts of prejudice (Vorurteil), tradition, and the fusion of horizons, the study employs a historical-critical library approach to analyze how Enlightenment objectivism contributed to the marginalization of tradition in knowledge formation. The findings suggest that scientific authority cannot rely solely on methodological objectivity, but must be grounded in dialogical recognition (Anerkennung) and interpretive engagement with societal contexts. By integrating insights from critical theory and contemporary post-truth discourse, this paper proposes a reconfiguration of scientific authority as reflexive, dialogical, and historically aware, offering a conceptual foundation for more inclusive science communication and hermeneutic-based education.