Unsettling Extremism is a podcast by He Whenua Taurikura, Aotearoa's Independent Centre of Research Excellence for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism. In this podcast we will be having critical conversations with experts who look at extremism, hate, mis and disinformation, conspiracy theories as well as our social connectedness all through a uniquely Aotearoa lens. Each episode I'll interview a different expert who will discuss their research contextualise the present moment explain the impact of extremism and disinformation, and let us know what we all can do about it.
Unsettling Extremism is a podcast by He Whenua Taurikura, Aotearoa's Independent Centre of Research Excellence for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism. In this podcast we will be having critical conversations with experts who look at extremism, hate, mis and disinformation, conspiracy theories as well as our social connectedness all through a uniquely Aotearoa lens. Each episode I'll interview a different expert who will discuss their research contextualise the present moment explain the impact of extremism and disinformation, and let us know what we all can do about it.
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