Quanto forte è il falso secondo Umberto Eco

[Machine translation] On the cognitive and ontological efficacy of falsehood in history according to Umberto Eco. Falsehood derives its strength from the “continuity of tradition”, from a contagious word of mouth that involves texts of a disparate nature, both oral and written, from gossip to fake news, to conspiracy theories, which are spread from mouth to mouth — from link to link — distorting and inflating pieces of reality through the mechanism of hermetic semiosis. , In the vigilant awareness of the aggressive and violent power of these inventions, Eco shows another side of the force of falsehood. In his opinion, there is a need for simulation, its irreplaceable pedagogical function. In addition to coinciding with error and lies, it occupies the territory of verifiable rhetoric and narrative fiction, which the Alexandrian intellectual explored with inexhaustible commitment as an analyst and creator.