That’s Just a Conspiracy Theory!”

Relevant Alternatives, Dismissive Conversational Exercitives, and the Problem of Premature Conclusions

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21503673
AutoresRico Hauswald (Technische Universität Dresden, autor de correspondencia)
Año2023
Volumen37
Número4
Páginas494-509
Fecha de publicación2023-07-04
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSocial Epistemology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0269-1728 • E-ISSN: 1464-5297
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02691728.2023.2172699
OpenAlexW4320495340
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas7
Referencias citadas47

Drawing on the relevant alternatives framework and Mary Kate McGowan’s work on conversational scorekeeping, I argue that usage of the term ‘conspiracy theory’ in ordinary language and public discourse typically entails the performance of what I call a dismissive conversational exercitive, a kind of speech act that functions to exclude certain propositions from (or prevent their inclusion in) the set of alternatives considered relevant in a given conversational context. While it can be legitimate to perform dismissive conversational exercitives, excluding alternatives that deserve to be taken seriously can be highly problematic for a variety of reasons. For one, it can give rise to what I call the problem of premature conclusions when subjects illegitimately dismiss certain propositions as irrelevant and, as a result, prematurely take certain conclusions or claims to be warranted. Depending on the kind of conclusion or claim, the problem can come in different variants, three of which I shall examine in more detail: the problem of premature knowledge claims, the problem of premature causal claims, and the problem of premature generic generalizations

Epistemology · Metaphysics · Philosophy of language · Sociology · Computer Science · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · History · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social Psychology · Artificial Intelligence