BETWEEN TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD: THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE AND THE DEMARCATION PROBLEM IN THE AGE OF POST-TRUTH

The contemporary intellectual era is facing a profound crisis, manifested in the phenomenon of Post-Truth - a situation where emotions and personal beliefs often outweigh objective facts, and unreliable information can be elevated to the status of alternative truths. This phenomenon, which equates truth and falsehood in their epistemological rights and status, threatens not only the authority of science but also the very possibility of rational discourse. In the context of widespread information and technological growth, a key question arises: how can we distinguish scientific knowledge from pseudo-scientific knowledge, and what role does philosophy play in this process? Solving this problem is of fundamental importance for maintaining trust in science and ensuring the sustainable development of society. The relevance of the Post-Truth issue is determined not only by its theoretical significance but also by its practical consequences. The spread of pseudo-scientific ideas and their penetration into various spheres of public life create real risks for the development of science and technology. In this regard, philosophy must not only identify the mechanisms of misconception but also propose ways to strengthen the cognitive foundations of society. The contribution of this research lies in attempting to define the boundaries of rational knowledge and problematizing the search for mechanisms to demarcate scientific and pseudo-scientific knowledge in contemporary science. The goal of the work is to philosophically reflect on the most representative approaches to defining the boundaries of rational cognition, as well as to address the issue of developing strategies to strengthen the authority of scientific knowledge in the Post-Truth era.