In late 2017, I approached the publishers Rowman and Littlefield with a proposal for a book on the latest work on conspiracy theory theory (the study of conspiracy theory), which would take as its basis a series of replies and… Read More ›
Articles
Articles are stand-alone contributions to SERRC.
“They” are Back (and still want to cure everyone): Psychologists’ Latest Bid to Curtail Public Epistemology, Part Two, Lee Basham
Wagner-Egger et al. (2019) continue to defend a project of pathologizing and “curing” the public of doubts about the reliability of government, media and corporate statements and actions. They envision a mass psychological engineering project to curtail rational social epistemology, one particularly, but not limited to, targeting children in public schools. The… Read More ›
“They” are Back (and still want to cure everyone): Psychologists’ Latest Bid to Curtail Public Epistemology, Part One, Lee Basham
Wagner-Egger et al. (2019) continue to defend a project of pathologizing and “curing” the public of doubts about the reliability of government, media and corporate statements and actions. They envision a mass psychological engineering project to curtail rational social epistemology, one particularly, but not limited to, targeting children in public schools. The… Read More ›
More on Bad Social Science, Brian Martin
In “Bad Social Science,” (2019) I pointed to the phenomenon of non-specialists in the social science domain making claims that fall very far short of what social scientists consider best practice. I identified “several facets of bad social science: ad… Read More ›
Preface to the Chinese Edition of Social Epistemology, Steve Fuller
It is with great pleasure that I write this introduction to the Chinese edition of Social Epistemology, which was originally published more than thirty years ago—and I especially want to thank Yaxin Yao for making the translation possible. I will… Read More ›
Group-Strapping, Bubble, or Echo Chamber? C. Thi Nguyen
Here’s what we’re all desperately trying to explain: certain groups seem to have a wildly over-inflated devotion to their beliefs. Such groups seem to flourish online. Their members seem to resist very good contrary evidence, and to slowly become more… Read More ›
Uptake of a Conspiracy Theory Attribution: Part 2, Brian Martin
Kylar Loussikian’s article, aided by efforts by pro-vaccination campaigners, triggered an enormous response. The online version of his article attracted hundreds of comments. A few bloggers wrote hostile commentaries about the thesis. There was an online petition against the thesis,… Read More ›
Uptake of a Conspiracy Theory Attribution: Part 1, Brian Martin
Claiming that someone subscribes to a conspiracy theory can be a potent method of denigration. I observed this process up close. The thesis of one of my doctoral students was alleged to endorse a conspiracy theory, therefore discrediting it. Journalists,… Read More ›
More on Refusing Evil, Brian Martin
In my article “Technology and Evil,” I presented Steven Bartlett’s ideas about human evil, considered as a clinical term referring to destructiveness towards other humans, other species and the environment. Applying Bartlett’s analysis to technology leads to a number of… Read More ›
Notes on the Rhetoric of Trolling, Part 2, Bernard Wills
Author Information: Bernard Wills, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. bwills@grenfell.mun.ca. Wills, Bernard. “Notes on the Rhetoric of Trolling.” Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 8, no. 5 (2019): 1-10. The pdf of the article gives specific page references. Due… Read More ›
