Many people say it's irrational to believe in conspiracy theories. But is that really true?
We are joined by Dr M R. X. Dentith—Associate Professor in the International Center for Philosophy at Beijing Normal University—for the first instalment of a two-part interview on the subject of Conspiracy Theory Theory. Focusing upon the essential (and approachable) book edited by Dr Dentith entitled "Taking Conspiracy Theories Seriously" (Rowman and Littlefield, 2018), in this first instalment we lay the groundwork for the conversation and then go on to discuss the first section of the volume entitled, "The Particularist Turn in the Philosophy of Conspiracy Theories".
M R. X. Dentith, PhD (Auckland), is the author of The Philosophy of Conspiracy Theories (Palgrave, 2014), the first single-author book-length treatment of the philosophical issues surrounding conspiracy theory, and editor of Taking Conspiracy Theories Seriously (Rowman and Littlefield, 2018), an edited collection of the most recent work on conspiracy theory theory. They have been a Fellow in the Institute for Research in the Humanities (ICUB) at the University of Bucharest and the New Europe College in Bucharest, and they are currently Associate Professor in the International Center for Philosophy at Beijing Normal University. Their current research project focuses on conspiracy theory, conspiracy theory theory, and secrecy.
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[conspiracy theory, conspiracism, fake news, epistemology, particularism, generalism, Karl Popper, Richard Hofstadter, Charles Pigden, Patrick Stokes, Lee Basham, Ginna Husting, David Coady, Alex Jones, David Icke]