Reality and Rhetorical Truth in Digital Age

This paper examines the relationship between rhetoric and truth in the context of the dig-ital revolution and the so-called post-truth era. After clarifying the different meanings of “post-truth”, it argues that contemporary challenges to truth are not merely epistemic but also ontological, insofar as digital technologies increasingly reshape our experience of reality itself. Drawing on alethic realism, the paper defends a realist conception of truth according to which statements are true insofar as they are grounded in reality, broadly understood. On this basis, it highlights the crucial role of Aristotle’s principle of non-contradiction as a necessary condition for meaningful discourse, rhetorical persuasion and political life. Far from being indifferent to truth, rhetoric presupposes it as the orienting horizon of judgement and action, especially in political, juridical and communicative contexts affected by digital misinformation and artificial intelligence. In conclusion, the paper argues for restoring the unity between rhetoric, politics and ethics, proposing a virtue-ethical framework capable of addressing the techno-moral challenges posed by the digital age