Philosophy of Conspiracy Theory

Catalog description

This course uses the idea of conspiracy theories to explore basic issues in the theory of knowledge. Typically we think that theories are more likely to be true when they provide unifying explanations, that is, when they explain a wide variety of phenomena as the result of one cause, or law, or other explanatory principle. Reasonable people understand that theories which invoke conspiracies are likely to be false. But conspiracy theories typically provide unifying explanations. Further, there is often no obvious evidence against conspiracy theories. So why are they likely to be false? This class will include contemporary and/or historical philosophical readings, and may include topics such as belief revision and logic, skepticism, topics in philosophy of science such as confirmation and explanation, and topics in cognitive science such as cognitive bias and fallacy.