Conspiracy Theories ((3))

Catalog description

Epistemology is the study of knowledge and justification. There are several topics addressed by epistemologists that are relevant to questions about conspiracy theories: How do we get knowledge from others' testimony? When should we defer to the opinion of experts? How can we control what we believe, if at all? Can practical (even political) considerations give us genuine reasons for believing or disbelieving something? In this course, we will try to answer these questions using the tools of contemporary epistemology. We will also examine some of the social-psychological work on conspiratorial beliefs. The course assignments consist in contributions to a collaborative research project in the form of an online wiki for which students use their understanding of these epistemological issues to identify and evaluate various potential conspiracy theories.