Although the term “post-truth” was coined by critics impressed by Brexit and the US presidential campaign, post-truth is rooted in the history of Western social and political theory. Steve Fuller returns to Plato, considers a range of theological and philosophical issues, and pays particular attention to the Machiavellian tradition of classical sociology. A key figure is Vilfredo Pareto, who proposed an original concept of post-truth within the framework of his theory of the circulation of two types of elites – lions and foxes, according to which lions and foxes compete for power and accuse each other of illegitimacy, citing the falsity of the opponent’s statements – either about what they (the lions) have done or about what they (the foxes) will do. The defining feature of post-truth is a strict distinction between appearance and reality, which is never completely eliminated, so that the strongest appearance passes itself off as reality. The question is how to achieve greater gains - by rapidly changing visibility (the foxes' position) or by stabilizing it (the lions' position). The author examines from different angles what all this means for politics and science. The book is addressed to specialists in the field of political science, sociology and modern philosophy.