Brian Keeley, Mathew Dentith
M R.X. Dentith & Brian L. Keeley “The applied epistemology of conspiracy theories: An overview”, Routledge Handbook of Applied Epistemology, Coady, David, Ed. Routledge: 284-294.
Publication year: 2019

In the debate on belief in conspiracy theories there are two schools of thought: Generalism (the thesis that ; we can evaluate conspiracy theories as a class) and Particularism (the argument that we should assess particular conspiracy theories on their evidential merits). After discussing the role of defining what counts as a conspiracy or conspiracy theory, in this chapter we argue for a Particularist take in the epistemology of conspiracy theories. We focus on both the considerations that motivate how we define what counts as a conspiracy theory (and thus what counts as evidence for or against conspiracy theories), and the way in which knowledge of such theories is—in some sense—improvised.