معرفت اخلاقی

The distortion of truth and the spread of false news are among the major epistemic and social challenges of the digital communication age, undermining individuals’ ability to discern truth and weakening social capital and cognitive security. This study aimed to identify the factors contributing to truth distortion and to explain strategies for countering it from the perspective of Nahj al-Balāghah, with the goal of promoting cognitive security and media literacy. In terms of purpose, the study was applied, and methodologically, it employed a qualitative descriptive-analytical approach. Data were collected through documentary and library research by examining the sermons, letters, and aphorisms of Nahj al-Balāghah, along with relevant interpretive sources and scholarly studies, and were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The findings indicated that ignorance, following base desires, worldliness, power-seeking, individual and group fanaticism, lying, rumor-mongering, deliberate distortion of reality, and weakness in identifying valid criteria are among the most important factors contributing to truth distortion. Conversely, truth-centeredness, piety, insight, rational deliberation, critical thinking, honesty, trustworthiness, reliance on credible sources, the jihad of clarification, elite responsibility, and the promotion of media literacy constitute the principal strategies for addressing it. The results showed that these strategies, at the individual, social, and governance levels, contribute to strengthening society’s cognitive resilience.