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Barack Obama and uncertain knowledge

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Gary Alan Fine*
Affiliation:
Northwestern University, USA
*
Gary Alan Fine, Department of Sociology, Northwestern University, 1810 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, IL 60208 1810, USA. Email: g-fine@northwestern.edu

Abstract

Truth claims pervade the world: assertions that a speaker wishes to persuade an audience are true or at least plausible. But how to judge? Much proposed knowledge has uncertain legitimacy, evaluated through assumptions of how the world operates or by the reputation of its sponsor. In other words, plausibility and credibility shape our judgments. As students of conspiracy theories recognize, many “facts” are available, too many to be easily judged as to their accuracy. Facts are promiscuous. As judges of likelihood, we conclude that some are false, others true, and still others taken out of context. Further, knowledge is never complete and so we must consider error and ignorance (a field of epistemology labeled agnotology) as well as accuracy and awareness. In this article I examine four critical allegations made about United States President Barack Obama: that he was born in Kenya, that he is Muslim, that he engaged in oral sex with another man, and that he is a socialist. While each of these claims may be false, they are false in different ways in light of the different criteria and strategies by which we weigh uncertainty.

Type
Conspiracy Theories in the United States
Copyright
Copyright © ICPHS 2020

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