Philosophers had a workshop that concerned philosophical issues of conspiracy theories. After Juha Räikkä’s brief introduction, Lee Basham (Texas) presented a paper about “toxic stories”. Those stories (or news) are dangerous for the social stability and economy and many people feel that they should not be investigated. Often they are conspiracy theories.
Matthew Dentith (Auckland) pointed out that the question of the definition of “conspiracy theory” is crucial. Conspiracy theories are plausible if “conspiracy theory” refers to type of explation that is plausible. Talking about “types” may be misleading, however, as all conspiracy theories should be evaluated on a case by case basis.