Journalism is in my opinion one of the most important professions today, because it makes information and so knowledge available to the public. It broadens our view and for me equality also means an equal possibility to access knowledge between people. However, many might argue that some of this information is not meant for the mass and can harm society. A certain complex scientific discovery could be taken out of context and cause unnecessary worries amongst citizens. Take for example the recent corona virus outbreak, that has been widely discussed in all sorts of media and journalism. It is seen as extremely dangerous by many and causes them to take precautionary measures. While many experts claim that many of our worries and taken measures are not necessary, useful or even scientifically grounded.
Medievalist philosophers were already aware of the sometimes-negative effects of making new discoveries available to the mass. There solution was to ‘hide’ their new and often ground-breaking ideas in commentaries of bigger broadly known texts. They were afraid that their ideas would fall into the wrong hands if they wrote and published new books from their own hand. The information they provided was simply only meant for the academics, people who were trained in philosophy and able to correctly understand the new information. Today many people still think medieval philosophers did not come up with original theories or ideas, only because they were hiding them in commentaries.
Although it was the standard in the standard during the middle ages to do philosophy this way, I do not believe we should hide science in today’s society. However, I would like to emphasize that it is very important how certain information is communicated to the public. Unfortunately, information is often overgeneralized or simplified and so completely loses its original meaning. It is the responsibility of the researcher as well as the journalist that only correct information is spread and that it is done carefully. In this way, I think it is possible to have knowledge equally available for everyone, without it being taken out of context and causing unnecessary fear.
Medieval philosophy Lecture 1 