Abstract Matthew Shields (2022) raises two criticisms of generalism: that it makes unjustified general claims about Conspiracy Theorists and that it fails to consider “Dominant Institution Conspiracy Theories and Theorists” (DITs) as paradigm cases, despite the fact that they are... Read More ›Source| Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective
In “Rethinking Conspiracy Theories: Method First! A Reply to Shields”, Sanja Dembić pushes back against elements of my article “Rethinking Conspiracy Theories” (2022). Dembić starts her reply by giving a clear and accurate reconstruction of my main argument. I present a novel critique of generalism—the view that conspiracy theories are epistemically defective by their very nature. (To indicate that this is the relevant meaning, I’ll continue with Quassim Cassam’s convention of...| Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective