Enlightenment values are anathema to parties that only thrive amid widespread ignorance
The most alarming feature of our times is the disintegration of a shared belief in the values and principles of the European Enlightenment. They were never shouted from the hilltops, but were key to what we used to hold in common, and their collapse was a chief cause of Brexit. Unless they are quickly rediscovered and seen as a point around which to reunite, the
BBC will now fall as well.
Enlightenment values come in an interconnected bundle. First and foremost is the idea that there are objective truths and an accompanying public realm, held for all citizens, in which these truths can be tried and tested by argument, evidence and reason. It follows that there must be freedom to think and freely express oneself – otherwise no argument is possible. Science and fact will thus trump partisan ideology and superstition.