Meet the MCMPers: Allie Richards (Lisbon/MCMP)
Location: Ludwigstr. 31, ground floor, Room 021.
14.11.2024 at 16:00
Title:
Conspiracies and counter-evidential reasoning
Abstract:
In philosophical literature, there is a divide between how we define a conspiracy theory (CT), and whether CTs are rational or irrational. I take a neutral stance, and focus on the so-called generalists, who tend to define CTs in a pejorative way. A common motivation for the negative label is the claim that all CTs by nature resist falsification and that conspiracy theorists reason counter-evidentially. In order to argue this, there are 3 core assumptions that must be made. I show that when formalized, the assumptions either must be abandoned, or the generalists cannot fully capture irrational reasoning patterns.