Contesting Epistemic Authority: Conspiracy Theories on the Boundaries of Science

“Think for Yourself, or Others Will Think for You”: Predicting Belief in Conspiracy Theories with Epistemic Individualism and Critical Thinking Dispositions

“…This hypothesis was supported, suggesting that the more one wishes to take responsibility for the content of their belief system and reject epistemic authorities, the more one tends to acknowledge the existence of conspiracies. This is in line with what previous research has highlighted: Rejecting external expertise is a common strategy used by those adhering to conspiracy theories (Harambam & Aupers, 2015). More specifically, this study showed that when one does not rely on the expertise of external authorities and prefers to rely on an individual approach to select and process information, then one tends to endorse the existence of conspiracy theories more.…”

“…In other words, this supports the idea that the tendency to rely on oneself combined with the rejection of the epistemic authorities' opinion may lead to conspiratorial attitudes and beliefs. If the epistemic mistrust and, more specifically, the distrust in epistemic authorities has already been discussed previously (Harambam & Aupers, 2015;Pierre, 2019), this study takes one more step in attempting to reconcile expertise defiance with the notion of epistemic autonomy. We have provided evidence showing that believing in conspiracy theories could be associated with a form of defiance against epistemic authorities, but also with a willingness to think for oneself, to show epistemic autonomy.…”

“…", Poincaré, 1909). However, under some circumstances, it might lead individuals to further endorse conspiracy theories as the rejection of external expertise is a major characteristic of the conspiracy mindset (e.g., Harambam & Aupers, 2015, 2017.…”

Ecological economics in the age of fear

“…These social values and conventions have entitled scientists to hold a privileged capacity to influence policy (Nelson and Vucetich, 2009). In contemporary societies, despite relatively low levels of scientific literacy among the lay population, scientists have traditionally played the role of epistemic authorities when it comes to formal knowledge generation and dissemination, and such role has been largely endorsed by the modern state (Harambam and Aupers, 2015).…”

“…It is a common practice under PTP to disqualify scientists' views not on the basis of well-articulated arguments and evidence, but instead by appealing to conspiracy theories (Harambam and Aupers, 2015), e.g., far-right politicians denying the reality of anthropogenic climate change and calling it a Marxist plot.…”