Belief in Conspiracy Theory Research Papers (original) (raw)

2025, Aristide Michel MENGUELE MENYENGUE

Rhétorique du complot, ritualisation politique et construction de l'État en imbrication Communiquer en contexte de crise est un risque. S'il en est ainsi, c'est parce que les situations de crise sont des moments de tensions et de crispations socio-politiques qui participent, en général, de la contestation de l'ordre par « l'éloge du désordre ». En tant que forme de désarticulation du rapport à l'ordre et à la norme, les crises socio-politiques mobilisent. Sous ce prisme, elles commandent un rapport stratégique à la communication. Il ne faut pas perdre de vue les usages politiques du discours de crise qui offre de nombreuses opportunités aux entrepreneurs politiques leur permettant notamment de se révéler, d'exister, de se légitimer, voire de vivre des situations de crise. Les crises suscitent des vocations. Elles apparaissent, à bien des égards, comme des facteurs de changement et de résistance au changement accélérant même les mutations politiques et institutionnelles.

2025

Conspiracy theories have become a prominent topic for sociological research. But although emotions such as paranoia and panic are-sometimes dismissively-referred to in classical accounts of conspiracy theories and different emotions have been empirically linked to conspiracy beliefs, a comprehensive theoretical account of the emotional underpinnings of conspiracy theories is still lacking. In this contribution, I aim to fill this gap by proposing a theoretical model that focuses on the transformation and collectivisation of emotions, facilitated by conspiracy theories. Drawing on existing research, I first identify three groups of emotions relevant to conspiracy theories: (1) anxiety and fear, (2) excitement, fascination and awe and (3) anger, ressentiment and hate. Many of these emotions are both considered to drive individuals towards conspiratorial beliefs and are found to be evoked by conspiracy theories, which raises questions regarding their causal relationship to conspiracy theories. To clarify this conceptual ambiguity, I propose a processual account, according to which conspiracy theories enable the transformation of individual emotions which are marked by powerlessness and thus are frequently suppressed into emotions that are less harmful to the self and can be expressed and acted upon. Crucially, the resulting emotions are experienced collectively and consequently can drive the formation of emotional collectives. Thus, the emotional mechanism does not only motivate individuals to subscribe to conspiracy beliefs but also allows them to reassert their collective political agency and sense of control. In this process, however, the original emotional concern may be lost, resulting in potentially misdirected political actions. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

2025

Bu makale, 2025 yılında İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediye Başkanı Ekrem İmamoğlu hakkında açılan çok katmanlı yolsuzluk soruşturmalarını inceler. Soruşturma, Beylikdüzü Belediyesiʼnde 250 bin TLʼlik ihale usulsüzlüğü iddiasıyla başlamış; İBB dönemine ait MASAK raporları, gizli otel toplantıları, korumalarca bantlanmış kameralar, "bavulla nakit/ jammerˮ tartışması ve basına yansıyan tanık beyanlarıyla derinleşmiştir. Ayrıca, İmamoğluʼnun basın sözcüsü Murat Ongunʼun Acarkentʼte aylık 300 bin TL kira ile yaşamasının, beyan edilen gelirler ile uyuşmaması üzerinden kamu etik tartışması doğmuştur. Makale, parti açıklamaları, medya haberleri, protesto materyalleri ve 30 bin sözcüklük video transkript korpusu dâhil 167 dokümanı nitel içerik analiziyle inceleyip Sosyal Kimlik Kuramı, Nötralizasyon Teknikleri, Çerçeveleme Yaklaşımı, Komplo Anlatıları ve Post-truth literatürüyle sentezler. Bulgular, güçlü delillere rağmen CHP söyleminde "kumpas/mağduriyetˮ çerçevesinin baskınlaştığını; bunun partizan kimliği pekiştirerek hukuksal rasyonaliteyi ikincilleştirdiğini gösterir.

2025, Communicating Science, Climate Change and the Environment in Hybrid Media

This chapter provides a critical examination of Alex Jones’s conspiracy rhetoric concerning the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of the World Health Organization (WHO). It explores the array of communicative and discursive strategies employed by Jones to legitimize his narrative and portray it as “truth”. This analysis is based on the premise that conspiracy theories function as fully fledged, self-sustaining discourses that claim legitimacy as (socially constructed) truth, countering the official narratives propagated by mainstream media and political institutions. To elucidate this phenomenon, this chapter introduces the concept of “epistemic masquerade”, which characterizes the manner in which conspiracies are enacted as discourse, camouflaging themselves as truth and gaining legitimacy through specific masking and manipulative techniques at both visual and linguistic levels.

2025, Global Journal of HUMAN-SOCIAL SCIENCE: F Political Science

Not a day goes by without news on tv, radio or internet regarding the growing resistance of many Germans against the corona policy of the German government. Recent months show that in Germany, the development of resistance movements against the corona policy of the German government has become a problem. Indeed, there have been types of resistance movements since the beginning of the pandemic in the early 2020, but nowadays, it appears as if resistance movements have massively increased. People meet for walks through cities each Monday to express their resistance and thus, policymakers as well as the police have got a lot of work to ensure and establish order. It could be observed that at the beginning of the pandemic, during the first lockdown in Germany, people’s resistance was more or less directed towards corona mitigation measures such as the lockdown policy. Nowadays, things have changed and people’s resistance is mainly aimed at the restrictions against unvaccinated people and the debate about a general compulsory vaccination for all inhabitants.

2025, QAnon, Chaos, and the Cross: Christianity and Conspiracy Theories

2025, The Conversation

(Original en anglais) L'article explore les défis émotionnels et relationnels auxquels sont confrontés les individus dans des relations romantiques avec des partenaires qui croient aux théories du complot. Au milieu d'une « infodémie » de... more

2025

On November 22nd, 1953, I was in a third-grade classroom at Peter’s Township Elementary School in Washington County, Pennsylvania, when the static came crackling over the intercom: “President Kennedy has been shot in Dallas….” On April 4th, 1968, I was in an eighth-grade classroom at Clare E. Gale Junior High School in Idaho Falls, Idaho, on the black day when Martin Luther King was shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. And on that day, JFK’s kid brother, RFK, delivered a short speech to the Black community at a small park at 17th and Broadway in Indianapolis, Indiana. But on June 5th, 1968, RFK was shot by unknown gunmen at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. These black dates are benchmarks in the forgotten history of the United States of America in the 1960s. They are days when three men rightly called ‘Great Americans’ died for their country and the Great American Republic died too. I have written this blog when another candidate has claimed to bring Great America back to life, lest we forget his great forebearers and play out this tragic history once again. In blessed memory of JFK, MLK, and RFK, I call all Great Americans to say: Never Again!

2025, The Conversation

(Original en inglés) El artículo explora los retos emocionales y relacionales a los que se enfrentan los individuos en relaciones románticas con parejas que creen en teorías conspirativas. En medio de una «infodemia» de desinformación,... more

2025, Felsefi Düşün Dergisi

Öz Kanaatleri üreten toplumsal düzene ve kanaatlerin yeniden ürettiği toplumsal ilişkilere odaklanarak ve hakikat rejiminde bilgi ve kanaat arasındaki sınırı göz ardı etmeden, komplo teorilerine yahut post-truth anlatılara mesafe almak,... more

2025, Bikirim

21. yüzyılın siyasî gündeminde toplumsal cinsiyet eleştirisi gündelik siyaset algısının dönüşümü açısından önemli bir rol oynadı. Sağ popülizm ve komplo teorileri ne kadar hızlı biçimde dolaşıma girse de hem kadın hem de LGBT hareketi bir... more

2025, Journal of the Bible and its Reception

A group of perhaps 2,000 Māori, whose main representative is Monica Matāmua, claim that they are not Māori or Polynesian but descendants of a White race they call the Hotu. They claim that they were the first to settle in Aotearoa New Zealand, more than a thousand years before Māori, so that they are the true Indigenous inhabitants of the land. Further, they hold to a conspiracy theory that claims evidence for White Hotu has been covered up by Māori and elites. This article examines the epistemic modes by which modern Hotu defend their contentions. A key foundation is their employment of the biblical motif of Paradise, by which they identify as an originally Edenic people, in contrast to Māori. The Hotu combine the authoritative biblical motif of Paradise with parallel epistemic foundations, including Māori traditions of original peoples, the colonial myth of a Pacific Paradise, and modern DNA testing. This article demonstrates how the Hotu generate epistemic authority not only via each epistemic mode, but via a hermetic-like combination of epistemic modes. The piling up of superficially similar epistemic claims provides a seemingly profound yet spurious basis for asserting White pre-Polynesian identity and origins. It also provides Hotu with a sense of agency that encourages their ongoing fight to reverse the damaging effects of colonization. Yet the Hotu contention to be descendants of a White pre-Polynesian people comes at the significant cost of demonizing Māori, absolving European colonizers, and emboldening many New Zealanders to deny Māori their Indigenous status.

2025, Electoral Studies

What role do conspiracy theories play in mobilizing political action? Both historical and contemporary accounts have written on the role of conspiracy theories (CTs) in mobilizing various movements, including during the process of nationbuilding, regime consolidation, and in challenges to liberal democracy in more recent years. In contrast, recent empirical research suggests that beliefs in CTs might reduce participation in politics. However, both research genres have only analyzed a limited number of CTs. This article explores how belief in different CTs affects people's likelihood to participate in politics, particularly in relation to partisan narratives. Using two surveys conducted in the United States (n=1200) and Turkey (n=1500)-two cases that approximate a most different system design-, it finds that beliefs in partisan CTs encourage citizens to participate in politics while the effect of beliefs in non-partisan CTs on political participation varies depending on the individual's political affiliation.

2025

erscheint in: Nadine Frei, Robert Schäfer, Jens Schlieter, Hrsg. Conspirituality: Esoterisches Verschwörungsdenken und die Covid-Pandemie, 2025

2025, Lua Nova

This study argues that conspiracy theorizing essentially
revolves around trust and distrust. Political conspiracy
theories constitute symptoms of generalized political distrust
—what I call the public trust approach to conspiracy
theories. The various causes of political distrust evolve into
a generalized perception of untrustworthiness. Critics of
the public trust approach correctly point out that conspiracy
theories have no epistemic flaws as such, dismissing narratives
by imputing a conspirational logic in which public
authorities can use them as stratagems to undermine valid
criticisms. Although a correct objection, acknowledging it
fails to obfuscate the fact that distrust configures a major
political problem. Following philosophers of trust, I argue
that distrust configures a practical problem and the proliferation
of conspiracy theories, a symptom of political failure.
The only response to conspiracy theorizing requires re-establishing
the bonds of trust since an ethical and democratic
political life requires a deep sense of trust.

2025, Etheric Studies

Brief My assumption in writing this opinion is that our ability to study consciousness and Psi phenomena is not guaranteed. We should be mindful that there have been times in our history that doing so was considered demon worship or being controlled by demons. Of course, such suppression of free thinking occurred mainly when the state had a state religion. Five major influences are identified that are shaping the emerging social order. Especially two of them, unregulated Capitalism and an emerging state religion, are likely to benefit from the suppression of free thought. The Christian Nationalist point of view appears to be that such abilities as mediumship and Psi functioning are evidence of association with demon. We should be reminded of witch hunts of old and the gullibility of subservient citizens. An analytical approach to consciousness and Psi researchers, including human potential (aka personal improvement) and paranormal phenomena fosters critical thinking. This can translate into a relative immunity to propaganda and conspiracy thinking. How the way we think affects what we think is explored with emphasis on the difference between belief and discernment. I argue that changing a people's worldview is possible by showing them the value of questioning the implications of their belief. The Opinion concludes with recognition that we who are involved in consciousness and Psi studies may need to be more mindful about how we are viewed by the public.

2025, British Journal of Criminology

This article challenges criminologists to adopt a more critical orientation to conspiracy theories. The first part of the article suggests that a moral panic over conspiracy theories has given rise to a conspiracy theory research agenda that has pathologized and criminalized conspiracy theories. The second part of the article argues that although conspiracies are important sociological and political phenomena, the term 'conspiracy theory' functions to stigmatize certain narratives. The article traces the origins of conspiracy denial in the social sciences. The final part of the article argues that criminologists should take conspiracy theories seriously and seek to investigate conspiracies. If popular conspiracy theories about elite wrongdoing are invalid, criminologists should develop better explanations of how and why conspiracies take place, as well as who conspires and to what ends. The article outlines some existing concepts and approaches that criminologists might utilize to this end.

2025

Trump sera re-investi ce 20 janvier 2024 à Washington, huit ans après sa 1e investiture comme président des USA. Cette personnalité populiste est-elle fascisante ? L'était-t-elle déjà en 2016 sous forme de tendance, ou bien s'est-elle... more

2025

Future Warfare [Circa 2025] - NASA

2025, Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective

In a recent paper, Nader Shoaibi (2024) makes a valuable contribution to the
discussion on genealogies and conspiracy theories (CTs) by focusing on a
particular kind of genealogy: what he calls 'political genealogies'. Roughly,
political genealogies are not so much interested in the epistemic warrant (or
rationality) of a given belief or theory. Rather, their function is to illuminate
the social and political conditions that give rise to the spread of
(unwarranted) CTs. Shoaibi also notes that such genealogies have an
important normative dimension: by drawing on the social/political
conditions surrounding CTs we are also invited to engage in a ‘constructive
strategy’ concerning CT-believers. This strategy, according to Shoaibi, can be
cashed out in terms of ‘world-travelling’ which, as per feminist philosopher
Maria Lugones, involves radical humility and playfulness. I agree with a lot of
what Shoaibi has to say in his paper. I find his notion of CT political
genealogies philosophically fruitful since it carves out what I take to be novel
conceptual space in the literature. And I welcome the appeal to ‘worldtravelling’ when dealing with proponents of unwarranted CTs. In this piece I
respond to some of Shoaibi’s worries against epistemic genealogies, and I
raise a concern about the possibility of political genealogies being hijacked by
malicious actors. I also make some preliminary remarks about what could be
called 'genealogical pluralism' about CTs, while also arguing for the primacy
of epistemic genealogies.

2025, Oxímora. Revista Internacional de Ética y Política, nº 25, pp. 124-145

Tanto las conspiraciones como las teorías de la conspiración se han convertido en herramientas habituales para la interpretación de los fenómenos sociales y políticos contemporáneos. El artículo propone un acercamiento interdisciplinar a la cuestión del conspiracionismo a fin de estimular la reflexión y contribuir a u na comprensión amplia y profunda del mismo. En primer lugar, planteamos la necesidad de un esfuerzo de precisión conceptual y semántica que permita distinguir entre términos pertenecientes al universo conspiracionista (conspiración, conjura, conspiranoia, conspiracionismo), así como su compleja relación con otros conceptos relevantes (ignorancia, transparencia). En segundo lugar, nos aproximamos a los elementos más significativos con los que operan de forma explícita o implícita los discursos conspiracionistas (élite, despiertos, dormidos, estructura impersonal), tratando de abordar la particular concepción del poder, las élites o la responsabilidad que se derivan de ellos. Por último, se aborda la dimensión compensatoria y atrayente de las teorías de la conspiración en relación con una serie de sesgos cognitivos (confirmación, proporcionalidad, reconocimiento de patrones, falacia conjuntiva), proponiendo la distinción entre formas fuertes y débiles de conspiracionismo.

2024, Research & Politics

The “conspiracy theories are for losers” argument suggests that out-of-power groups use conspiracy theories to sensitize minds, close ranks, and encourage collective action. Two necessary conditions of this argument are that (1) group members subscribe mostly to conspiracy theories that malign out-groups or bolster their in-group, and (2) group members must recognize whether conspiracy theories emanate from their own group, an opposing group, or are outside of partisan conflict. Using representative survey data from the 2012 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we show that conspiracy accusations follow the contours of partisan conflict: partisans accuse opposing groups, rather than co-partisans or non-partisans, of conspiring. Using MTurk data, we show that partisans can differentiate between the conspiracy theories coming from members of each party. We suggest that many conspiracy beliefs behave like most partisan attitudes; they follow the contours of partisan conflict and a...

2024, Studii şi cercetări filologice. Seria Limbi Străine Aplicate

Résumé: Le moteur de toute théorie conspirationniste est la somme des contradictions qu’elle provoque et dont elle se nourrit. La dialectique générée par le complotisme, pour l’essentiel, tient de ce que deux ou plusieurs « explications »2, sur le même objet d’information, de communication, se contredisent ou s’excluent inconciliablement, créant ainsi le doute et la confusion dans la tête des récepteurs de ces discours. La raison de cet état de fait se trouve dans la définition même du conspirationnisme en tant qu’il est « la croyance en l’existence d’un plan illégal organisé volontairement par des individus mal intentionnés, et l’usage de cette croyance pour expliquer certains faits ou le cours de l’histoire » (J. Jamin, 2009 : 44). Le conspirationnisme s’opère donc sur la base de la suspicion ou de la méfiance entre un pôle de « conspirateurs avérés ou non » et un autre assumé par des conspirationnistes ou, si on peut le dire autrement, sur la base d’« un dualisme de type “nous versus eux” et une dynamique de type “bon et mauvais” qui, ensemble, permettent d’évacuer toute nuance et toute complexité. En contexte africain, la dialectique créée et entretenue par les discours complotistes relève en général plus de la rumeur, du procès d’intention, de la diffamation, etc. que de la contradiction logique, raisonnée et dépassionnée, avec pour source génésique attestée le « on dit que… » ou l’une de ses variantes expressives. Ici également, « la pensée conspiratoire est étrangère au principe de non-contradiction » (M. Angenot, 2010 : 35) et c’est pourquoi, face à l’impossible synthèse des contraires, qui est pourtant l’aboutissement attendu de tout processus dialectique, l’on est amené à s’interroger sur l’intérêt qu’il y a pour une explication conspirationniste de prendre le contre-pied radical d’une information ou d’une communication officielle sensée être objective, crédible ou véridique et, en cela, éclairée et éclairante.
Mots clés : Théorie conspirationniste, dialectique, récepteur, contexte africain, information.
Abstract: The driving force behind any conspiracy theory is the sum total of the contradictions it provokes and feeds on. The dialectic generated by conspiracism is essentially that two or more ‘explanations’ for the same object of information or communication contradict or irreconcilably exclude each other, thus creating doubt and confusion in the minds of the receivers of these discourses. The reason for this state of affairs can be found in the very definition of conspiracism as ‘the belief in the existence of an illegal plan deliberately organised by ill-intentioned individuals, and the use of this belief to explain certain facts or the course of history’ (J. Jamin, 2009: 44). Conspiracism thus operates on the basis of suspicion or mistrust between one pole of ‘conspirators, known or otherwise’ and another assumed by conspiracists, or, if we can put it another way, on the basis of ‘a dualism of the “us versus them” type and a dynamic of the “good and bad” type which, together, make it possible to eliminate all nuance and complexity. In the African context, the dialectic created and maintained by conspiracy theorists generally has more to do with rumour, accusations of intent, defamation, etc. than with logical,reasoned and dispassionate contradiction, with the ‘they say that...’ or one of its expressive variants as its proven genetic source. Here again, ‘conspiratorial thinking is alien to the principle of non-contradiction’ (M. Angenot, 2010 : 35) and that is why, faced with the impossible synthesis of opposites, which is nonetheless the expected outcome of any dialectical process, we are led to wonder what point there is in a conspiratorial explanation taking the radical opposite view to official information or communication that is supposed to be objective, credible or truthful and, as such, enlightened and enlightening.
Key words : Conspiracy theory, dialectic, receiver, African context, information.

2024, Studii şi cercetări filologice. Seria Limbi Străine Aplicate 19

2024, Studii şi cercetări filologice. Seria Limbi Străine Aplicate

2024, The Linacre quarterly

2024, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

The primary focus of this paper is to investigate the influence of science literacy, particularly health literacy, on vaccine-specific conspiracy beliefs, within the broader context of vaccine hesitancy. The authors tested deficit (scientific literacy shapes science attitudes) and contextual models (contextual variables exert direct influence and influence the connection between literacy and science attitudes) in a survey research study (N = 729) in Croatia. The analytical approach included structural equation modeling with vaccination conspiracy beliefs as the outcome variable and health literacy, religiosity, and political identification as predictors. The results showed that lower health literacy and higher religiosity were related to higher vaccination conspiracy beliefs, which was not the case for political identification. In addition, the moderating effect of religiosity on the relationship between health literacy and conspiracy beliefs was confirmed. In contrast, the moderating effect of political identification was not confirmed, thus partially confirming the stronger version of the contextual model. The authors comparatively discuss the results by evoking specific socio-political characteristics of Croatian society as well as the reactions of political and religious organizations to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2024, Lunch & Learn Presentation

The current socio-political environment has created a context for conspirational narratives about COVID-19, vaccines, election fraud and other counterfactual information. A belief in conspiracy theories has increased in Canada since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Conspiracy theories have undoubtedly impacted intimate relationships. For example, a recent study on the impact of QAnon involvement on interpersonal relationships found that involvement with QAnon created a “malignant force” in relationships which caused distance and distress (Mastroni & Mooney, 2024). This presentation will review our research team’s efforts to understand how conspiracy theories, disinformation and political polarization have impacted intimate relationships since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. We will review three projects we have undertaken to better understand the impact of conspiracy beliefs on intimate relationships: a completed scoping review, a systematic review, and a qualitative pilot study. We shared initial findings and engage participants in a discussion of their own experiences with this topic.

2024, Annual Review of Anthropology

This article reviews anthropological explorations of conspiracy theories—in dialogue with insights from other disciplines, primarily political science, philosophy, and social psychology—to frame conspiracy theories as productive social practices. While conspiracy theories are often depicted through their epistemological shortcomings and associated with social and political margins, this article traces the nascent threads across anthropological scholarship to reach an emic understanding of those narratives and their sociopolitical reverberations and proposes approaching conspiracy theories through their style, agentive implications, and political effects. Conspiratorial style, the article argues, pertains not to the content of the narrative but to its incessant seeking of covert operations beyond readily visible forms as well as a growing flexibility regarding the narrator's belief in the narrative's veracity. The agentivizing dynamic generated through conspiracism differentiates contemporary conspiracism from its predecessors and involves an empowering current. Finally, the article focuses on how contemporary conspiracism is intricately linked to political contestations.

2024

Will Storr - Trăim într-o epocă a individualității. Se presupune că trebuie să fim supli, prosperi, fericiți, extravertiți și populari. Aceasta este imaginea culturii noastre despre sinele perfect. Vedem asemenea persoane peste tot: în reclame, în presă, în social media.
Ni se spune că pentru a fi perfecţi trebuie doar să ne urmăm visele, că potențialul nostru este fără limite și că suntem sursa propriului succes. Dar acest model al sinelui perfect poate fi extrem de periculos. Oamenii suferă fiind torturați de această fantezie imposibilă. Presiunea socială fără precedent conduce la o creștere a ratelor depresiei și a sinuciderilor. De unde vine acest ideal? De ce este acesta atât de puternic? Există vreo modalitate de a rupe vraja?

2024, Revista Educação Pública

Teorias da conspiração podem causar danos reais à sociedade e seus impactos podem ser ainda mais drásticos em circunstâncias de crise, como a pandemia de Covid-19. O trabalho investiga uma amostra de 198 vídeos produzidos por 21 canais brasileiros do YouTube previamente identificados como disseminadores de teorias da conspiração sobre a pandemia. A análise de conteúdo foi adotada como metodologia, utilizando os elementos do lead jornalístico como categorias. As principais teorias encontradas foram “Nova Ordem Mundial”, “Plandemia”, “Big Pharma”, “Perseguição a Bolsonaro” e “Marxismo Cultural”. Denominações ocultas, como “sistema” e “elite”, personalidades, mídia, governo e cientistas destacaram-se como atores. Entre os mecanismos citados nos vídeos sobressaem-se tecnologias como inteligência artificial e 5G e as vacinas contra a Covid-19. A maioria dos canais da amostra permanece ativa, apesar de as políticas de combate à desinformação sobre a Covid-19 terem sido implementadas há três anos pela plataforma. É preciso compreender a dinâmica das teorias da conspiração que circulam em plataformas amplamente utilizadas pela população brasileira para a identificação e o desenvolvimento de abordagens adequadas. Desse modo, o estudo demonstra estratégias consideradas efetivas para a mitigação desse problema e sugere possíveis recortes para futuras pesquisas.

2024

The terror had struck when it was least expected. ....

A futuristic reflection from 1980!

2024, Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective

In 2023, I published “Two Problems with the Generalist-Particularist Distinction in the Philosophy of Conspiracy Theory and Why I’m not a Generalist” in the SERRC. I took issue with Joel Buenting and Jason Taylor’s “Conspiracy Theories and Fortuitous Data” (2010) which identified an earlier paper of mine, “Conspiracy Theories and Conspiracy Theorizing”
(2002), as a work of ‘generalism’. This term and the term ‘particularism’—both of which are now widely applied—are terms of art Buenting and Taylor coined to characterize views about the philosophy of conspiracy theorizing. I also noted two conceptual problems that have emerged with applications of the generalist-particularist distinction. Maarten Boudry
and M. Giulia Napolitano in “Why We Should Stop Talking about Generalism and Particularism: Moving the Debate on Conspiracy Theories Forward” (2023) took issue with the allegedly confusing way that I used the term ‘generalism’. They also assert that my use of the term ‘generalism’ is reflective of the way it is used by many other philosophers. According to Boudry and Napolitano, confusion in the philosophy of conspiracy theorizing is now rampant; and consequently, it is best if we stop using the terms ‘generalism’ and ‘particularism’ altogether and start talking about ‘lumpers’ and ‘splitters’ instead. More recently M Dentith and Melina Tsapos (2024) have responded to Boudry and Napolitano defending the continued use of the distinction between generalism and particularism. Here I argue for revision of the generalist-particularist distinction, rather than either replacement or retention.

2024, Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective

During the last few decades, the proliferation of interest in conspiracy theories became a widespread phenomenon in our culture, and also in academia. In this piece, I review a new book on the topic of conspiracy theory theory (that is-the theory of conspiracy theories) Taking Conspiracy Theories Seriously, edited by M R. X. Dentith. To contextualize my review, I first turn to the '90s, to see what sparked current interest in conspiracy theories within the field of analytic philosophy. I then critically asses the current limitations of social epistemology, as a field. Among other things, I show how accepted assumptions in social epistemology cause cross-disciplinary disagreements with other social sciences, present the dilemma of trivializing whistle-blowers, and discuss few neglected roles technologies play in belief formation.

2024, Inquiry

A second-order conspiracy (SOC) is a conspiracy that aims to create (and typically also disseminate) a conspiracy theory. Second-order conspiracy theories (SOCT) are theories that explain the occurrence of a given conspiracy theory by appeal to a conspiracy. In this paper I argue that SOC and SOCT are useful and coherent concepts, while also having numerous philosophically interesting upshots (in terms of epistemology, explanation, and prediction). Secondly, I appeal to the nature of two specific kinds of second-order conspiracies to make the case for what has been called ‘local generalism’ (Stamatiadis-Bréhier 2023a). Specifically, I focus on so-called ‘denial industries’ to argue that the structure of these second-order conspiracies allows us to infer non-accidental generalisations about the domain of conspiracy theories. Even though it is true that there is nothing epistemically problematic with the general class of conspiracy theories, there are specific subsets of conspiracy theories that warrant immediate strong suspicion (cf. Dentith 2022). By looking at the intricate mechanisms by which these denial industries operate, we can infer that the conspiracy theories that are produced by them are epistemically unwarranted. I conclude by making some exploratory remarks about what the metaphysics of second-order conspiracies would look like.

2024, Inquiry

In this paper I develop a genealogical approach for investigating and evaluating conspiracy theories. I argue that conspiracy theories with an epistemically problematic genealogy are (in virtue of that fact) epistemically undermined. I propose that a plausible type of candidate for such conspiracy theories involves what I call ‘second-order conspiracies’ (i.e. conspiracies that aim to create conspiracy theories). Then, I identify two examples involving such conspiracies: the antivaccination industry and the industry behind climate change denialism. After fleshing out the mechanisms by which these industries systematically create and disseminate specific types of conspiracy theories, I examine the implications of my proposal concerning the particularism/generalism debate and I consider the possibility of what I call local generalism. Finally, I tackle three objections. It could be objected that a problematic genealogy for T merely creates what Dentith (2022) calls ‘type-1’ (or ‘weak’) suspicion for T. I also consider a challenge according to which the genealogical method is meta-undermined, as well as an objection from epistemic laundering.

2024, Transcultural Psychiatry

This essay introduces a thematic issue of Transcultural Psychiatry presenting selected papers from the 2022 McGill Advanced Study Institute in Cultural Psychiatry on "The Fragility of Truth: Social Epistemology in a Time of Polarization and Pandemic." The COVID pandemic, political polarization, and the climate crisis have revealed that large segments of the population do not trust the best available knowledge and expertise in making vital decisions regarding their health, the governance of society, and the fate of the planet. What guides information-seeking, trust in authority, and decision-making in each of these domains? Papers in this issue include case studies of the dynamics of misinformation and disinformation; the adaptive functions and pathologies of belief, paranoia, and conspiracy theories; and strategies to foster and maintain diverse knowledge ecologies. Efforts to understand the psychological dynamics of pathological conviction have something useful to teach us about our vulnerability as knowers and believers. However, this individual psychological account needs to be supplemented with a broader social view of the politics of knowledge and epistemic authority that can inform efforts to create healthy information ecologies and strengthen the civic institutions and practices needed to provide well-informed pictures of the world as a basis for deliberative democracy, pluralism, and coexistence .

2024, JCOM, journal of science communication

In the 2021 book How to Talk to a Science Denier: Conversations with Flat Earthers, Climate Deniers, and Others Who Defy Reason, Lee McIntyre introduces different anti-science movements and their reasoning. Based on personal interactions with committed science deniers and literature from various disciplines including cognitive psychology, he argues that all these communities use the same playbook in terms of reasoning about evidence, argumentation, demands on scientific certainty and recruitment of new members. Such observations allow McIntyre to propose a universal strategy to combat these beliefs by using respectful in-person engagement and effective science communication tools. His argument is rooted in the idea that anti-science beliefs are built on identities, not on the content of specific beliefs.

2024, Philosophies

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution. This essay forwards an intensive model of mediation contrasted with the extensive model
implicit in much of media theory, which conceives of communication media as an extension of human
faculties. An intensive model, instead, conceives of mediation as a phenomenological process of
splitting or folding affective capacities. An extensive model results in a dualistic, essentialist theory
of communication media and unresolvable normative debates about the connecting or disconnecting
consequences of media. An intensive model avoids these limitations by diagramming various modes
of mediation and illustrating how their consequences stem from alterations to intensive properties,
thereby helping constitute subjects and media objects alike rather than presuming a media bridge
between pre-existing subjects and objects. The essay employs a number of examples to illustrate the
extensive model, including telephone conversations, cinema, animation, and social media. The essay
concludes with the division of families over QAnon conspiracies to illustrate the analytic gain from
an intensive model.

2024, Religion, Brain & Behaviour (forthcoming)

A forthcoming response to White et al's RBB target article on the development of CSR since its inception. The paper discusses what the digital environment may mean for emerging and future 'religion-like objects' and how these may disrupt... more

2024, News Article

Many Pakistanis are highly obsessed with conspiracy theories, mainly concerning with the intentions of the United States (US) and India regarding their country. The most popular conspiracy theory sweeping the land is that the US and India are engaged in a global conspiracy to bring down Pakistan. So, whenever an event or incident takes place in their country, they come forward to dig out a conspiracy allegedly hatched by either India or the US or both as a justification.