The value of „facts“ in public life today, as well as related notions of truth, authority, and institutional legitimacy, stand in serious question. Two major institutions that are, in principle, defined by the investigation, analysis, and promulgation both of facts and of their value–journalism and the university–currently find themselves not only destabilized but even under attack by sweeping political, cultural, economic, and technological forces.

Contemporary societies, pressured by the crisis of neoliberalism and global political instability, and challenged by unprecedented migration waves, constantly re-negotiate the coexistence and interaction of multiple, competing, and often conflicting value-systems across diverse linguistic, cultural, and religious fault-lines.

The extremes of spiritual vacuum and ideological fundamentalism threaten the democratic ideal of an open, plural, and just society.

Sponsored by Humanities and Social Change, this five-day gathering will bring together leading figures from the worlds of media and the academy not only to assess the current crisis regarding the value of facts–and the fact of values–in contemporary societies but also to articulate constructive responses to that crisis.