Friday 9th September 2016

Level 2, Burwood Corporate Centre, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood.

Important work has been done – particularly by Australasian philosophers – over the last two decades on the epistemology of conspiracy theories. There has been an emerging consensus in this literature that conspiracy theories, regarded as a class of explanation for observed events, are not intrinsically irrational, though they may involve unfalsifiable beliefs or form the core of degenerating research programs. However, there has been less attention paid to the ethical questions raised by conspiracy theory regarded as a practice or tradition of explanation. Do conspiracy theories corrode social and interpersonal trust? Do they violate norms of accusation and license harmful behaviours? Or are they a useful counterweight to the power of epistemic authorities? This workshop will bring together philosophers working on this topic to consider this ethical dimension.