Secrecy and conspiracy

Episteme 15 (4):433-450 (2017)
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Abstract

In the literature on conspiracy theories, the least contentious part of the academic discourse would appear to be what we mean by a “conspiracy”: a secretive plot between two or more people toward some end. Yet what, exactly, is the connection between something being a conspiracy and it being secret? Is it possible to conspire without also engaging in secretive behavior? To dissect the role of secrecy in con- spiracies – and thus contribute to the larger debate on the epistemology of conspir- acy theories – we dene the concepts of “conspiracy,” “conspirator,” and “secret,” and argue that while conspirators might typically be thought to commit to keeping secrets once their conspiracy is underway, the idea that conspiracies are necessarily secretive to start with is not as obvious as previously thought.

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Author Profiles

M R. X. Dentith
Beijing Normal University

Citations of this work

Suspicious conspiracy theories.M. R. X. Dentith - 2022 - Synthese 200 (3):1-14.
The power of second-order conspiracies.Alexios Stamatiadis-Bréhier - 2024 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy (Online):1-26.
Genealogical Undermining for Conspiracy Theories.Alexios Stamatiadis-Bréhier - 2023 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy:1-23.

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References found in this work

The Open Society and its Enemies.Karl R. Popper - 1952 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 142:629-634.
Of conspiracy theories.Brian Keeley - 1999 - Journal of Philosophy 96 (3):109-126.
Secrets: on the ethics of concealment and revelation.Sissela Bok - 1982 - New York: Oxford University Press.

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