ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book highlights the pragmatic rather than the epistemic grounds for rejecting conspiracy theories: A more solid ground for the rejection of conspiracy theories is simply pragmatic. It argues for an attitude of prima facie scepticism towards conspiracy theories. The book focuses on the psychology of those who continue to seek evidence of particular conspiracy theories after that search has taken on the appearance of what Imre Lakatos called a ‘degenerating research programme’. It presents the first explicit critique of the orthodoxy. The book shows that the Left often accepts the conservative assumption that conspiracy theories are intellectually suspect. Philosophers, like other academics, tend to have a low opinion of conspiracy theories and conspiracy theorists. Philosophy is often associated with rationality, at least by those engaged in it, whereas conspiracy theories are often thought of as paradigmatically irrational.
