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The Ethics of Conspiracy Theorizing

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Notes

  1. See Karl Popper, Conjectures and Refutations, 4th ed. (London: Routledge, 1972), pp. 123–125; Karl Popper Karl, Open Society and Its Enemies (London: Routledge, 1945).

  2. See Lee Basham (2001) ”Living with the Conspiracy,” The Philosophical Forum, Vol. 3 (2001), p. 275; Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003), p. 7; Brian L. Keeley, “Of Conspiracy Theories,” The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 96 (1999), pp. 109–126; Brian L. Keeley, “Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition! More Thoughts on Conspiracy Theory,” Journal of Social Philosophy, Vol. 34 (2003).

  3. See Charles Pigden, “Complots of Mischief,” in David Coady, ed., Conspiracy Theories: The Philosophical Debate (Hampshire, England: Ashgate, 2006), p. 165.

  4. See Barkun, op. cit., p. 4.

  5. Richard Hofstadter, The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays (London: Jonathan Cape, 1966), p. 40. See also Timothy Melley, Empire of Conspiracy: The Culture of Paranoia in Postwar America (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2000), and Jonathan Vankin, Conspiracies, Cover-Ups, and Crimes: Political Manipulation and Mind Control in America (New York: Paragon House Publishers, 1991).

  6. See Barkun, op. cit., p. 6; see also Brian L. Keeley, “God as the Ultimate Conspiracy Theory, Episteme, Vol. 4 (2007).

  7. Steve Clarke, “Conspiracy Theories and Conspiracy Theorizing”, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Vol. 32 (2002), p. 148.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Ibid.

  10. David Coady, “The Pragmatic Rejection of Conspiracy Theories” in David Coady, ed., Conspiracy Theories: The Philosophical Debate (Hampshire: Ashgate, 2006), p. 170; see also David Coady, “Conspiracy Theories and Official Stories,” International Journal of Applied Philosophy, Vol. 17 (2003).

  11. Charles Pigden, “Popper Revisited, or What is Wrong With Conspiracy Theories?”, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Vol. 25 (1995), p. 4.

  12. Conspiracy Encyclopedia: The Encyclopedia of Conspiracy Theories (London: Collins & Brown, 2005), p. 11.

  13. See Mark Fenster, Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1991), ch. 3, and Alasdair Spark, “Conjuring Order: The New World Order and Conspiracy Theories of Globalization,” in Jane Parish and Martn Parker, eds., The Age of Anxiety: Conspiracy Theory and the Human Sciences (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001), p. 49.

  14. See Fenster, op. cit.

  15. Ibid., p. 58.

  16. See Lorraine Code, Epistemic Responsibility (Hanover, N.H.: Brown University Press, 1987); see also James Montmarquet, Epistemic Virtue and Doxastic Responsibility (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 1993); Michael DePaul and Linda Zagzebski, eds., Intellectual Virtue: Perspectives from Ethics and Epistemology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001); Neil Levy, “Radically Socialized Knowledge and Conspiracy Theories,” Episteme, Vol. 4 (2007).

  17. See Myanna Lahsen, “The Detection and Attribution of Conspiracies: The Controversy over Chapter 8” in G.E. Marcus (Ed.), Paranoia Within Reason: A Casebook on Conspiracy as Explanation (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1986), 111–136.

  18. See Conspiracy Encyclopedia, op. cit.

  19. See David Ray Griffin, The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11 (Northampton, Mass.: Olive Branch Press, 2004).

  20. Clarke, op. cit., p. 148.

  21. Conspiracy Encyclopedia, op. cit.

  22. See Andrew Belsey and Ruth Chadwick, eds., Ethical Issues in Journalism and the Media (London: Routledge 1992); see also Elliot D. Cohen, ed., Philosophical Issues in Journalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992); John C. Merrill, Journalism Ethics: Philosophical Foundation for News Media (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1997); Robert M. Baird et al. eds., The Media & Morality (New York: Prometheus Books, 2002).

  23. Jeffrey Smith, Seeds of Deception (White River Junction, Vt.: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2003).

  24. Conspiracy Encyclopedia, p. 203.

  25. See Kent Greenawalt, Speech, Crime, and the Uses of Language (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989).

  26. Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (New York: Classic House Books, 2009), bk. 1, ch. 10.

  27. Ibid.

  28. I would like to thank Lee Basham, Lars Binderup, Vibren van der Burg, Bob Goodin, Eerik Lagerspetz and Christine Chwaszcza for helpful discussions. I would also like to thank Thomas Magnell, the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Value Inquiry, for his comments and help.

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  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland

    Juha Räikkä

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Räikkä, J. The Ethics of Conspiracy Theorizing. J Value Inquiry 43, 457–468 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10790-009-9189-1

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