In recent weeks and months SERRC has published a number of contentious articles and replies which focus on vaccines: vaccines which combat COVID-19. Making the latter statement so definitively makes me suspect my writing will be taken by readers as… Read More ›
Kurtis Hagen
The Salvation of the State is in Watchfulness of the Citizens: A Reply to Ahmed Bouzid, Lee Basham
In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act. ― Eric Blair[1] In this brief note we examine an interesting if perhaps unusual reply to Kurtis Hagen’s, “Vaccination and Intellectual Honesty: Reflections on a Theme in Recent… Read More ›
SERRC: Volume 11, Issue 5, May 2022
Volume 11, Issue 5, 1-79, May 2022 Articles, Replies, and Reviews ❧ Riggio, Adam. 2022. “Becoming Gestalt: Human and Algorithmic Intelligence—Review of Machine Habitus.” Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 11 (5): 1-11. ❧ Prusik, Charles A. 2022. “Reply to… Read More ›
Vaccination and Intellectual Honesty: Reflections on a Theme in Recent SERRC Articles, Kurtis Hagen
Should we be honest about vaccines? That is a serious question. Common sense says that “honesty is the best policy,” and I maintain that topics related to vaccination are not exceptional in this regard. However, some serious and well-intentioned people… Read More ›
An Autopsy of the Origins of HIV/AIDS, Lee Basham
Abstract This note introduces to a wider audience the hypothesis that global HIV infection is, on an inference to the best explanation model, a result of mistakes made in the production of the Hilary Koprowski (CHAT) Oral Polio Vaccine that… Read More ›
The Iniquity of the Conspiracy Inquirers, M R. X. Dentith
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 ›
“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 ›
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 ›