Theorizing About Conspiracy Theories with M Dentith

On this episode of Unsettling Extremism, we talk about the concept of conspiracy theories. People talk about conspiracy theories all the time, but have you ever slowed down to think about what conspiracy theories are? Are all conspiracy theories built equal? Is a belief in conspiracy theories inherently bad? I spoke with New Zealand-based philosopher, Dr M R Dentith, Associate Professor of philosophy at Beijing Normal University at Zuhai. M is a philosopher specialising in understanding the knowledge that underpins conspiracy theories, especially in a social context. In other words, they are an expert on the theory of conspiracy theory, or conspiracy theory theory. M has written and edited several books on conspiracy theories, the first of which is called the philosophy of conspiracy theories, published in 2014 see the show notes for more of their writing, but beyond their writing, M also has a podcast called The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy. So if you like these kinds of conversations, you want to listen to those too. Here's a little spoiler alert. If you've come to disparage conspiracy theories and the people who believe in them, you'll be disappointed in this episode. But if you've come to learn more about conspiracy theories and what they're about, this is the episode for you.

Resources:

Books

The Philosophy of Conspiracy Theories by M. Dentith (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014)

The Philosophy of Conspiracy Theories: Concepts, Methods and Theory (Routledge, 2024)

Articles

Dentith, M. R. (2016). The Problem of Fake News. Public Reason, 8(1-2), 65.

Dentith, M. R. (2016). When inferring to a conspiracy might be the best explanation. Social Epistemology, 30(5-6), 572-591.

Website

https://www.mrxdentith.com/

Podcast

https://zencastr.com/The-Podcaster-s-Guide-to-the-Conspiracy