Conspiracy Theories, Resistance to Evidence, and Propaganda: How Conspiracy Theories Advance Political Causes

Aug 25, 2026

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Deliberate or not, appeals to alleged conspiracies can powerfully advance political causes. The paper explains this by showing how some conspiracy beliefs are self-insulated: they resist revision while preserving the appearance of rationality despite accumulating counterevidence. Conspiracy allegations are treated as political propaganda when they help form and sustain these self-insulated beliefs, reshaping the believers’ social-epistemic environment, limiting exposure to dissent, and narrowing rational debate.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Historical example: Nazi anti-semitic propaganda

Contemporary example: Russia and the justification of the invasion of Ukraine

EUR Research Information Portal Conspiracy Theories, Resistance to Evidence, and Propaganda Published in: Social Epistemology Publication status and date: Published: 02/09/2025 DOI (link to publisher): 10.1080/02691728.2025.2505459 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Document License/Available under: CC BY Citation for the published version (APA): Napolitano, M. G. (2025) . Conspiracy Theories, Resistance to Evidence, and Propaganda: How Conspiracy Theories Advance Political Causes. Social Epistemology, 1–19. [https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2025.2505459](https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2025.2505459) Link to publication on the EUR Research Information Portal Terms and Conditions of Use Except as permitted by the applicable copyright law, you may not reproduce or make this material available to any third party without the prior written permission from the copyright holder(s) . Copyright law allows the following uses of this material without prior permission: • you may download, save and print a copy of this material for your personal use only; • you may share the EUR portal link to this material. In case the material is published with an open access license (e.g. a Creative Commons (CC) license), other uses may be allowed. Please check the terms and conditions of the specific license. Take-down policy If you believe that this material infringes your copyright and/or any other intellectual property rights, you may request its removal by contacting us at the following email address: [openaccess.library@eur.nl. Please](openaccess.library@eur.nl. Please) provide us with all the relevant information, including the reasons why you believe any of your rights have been infringed. In case of a legitimate complaint, we will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Social Epistemology A Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Policy ISSN: 0269-1728 (Print) 1464-5297 (Online) Journal [homepage: ](homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/tsep20)[www.tandfonline.com/journals/tsep20](homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/tsep20) Conspiracy Theories, Resistance to Evidence, and Propaganda: How Conspiracy Theories Advance Political Causes M. Giulia Napolitano To cite this article: M. Giulia Napolitano (02 Sep 2025): Conspiracy Theories, Resistance to Evidence, and Propaganda: How Conspiracy Theories Advance Political Causes, Social Epistemology, DOI: 10.1080/02691728.2025.2505459 To link to this article: [https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2025.2505459](https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2025.2505459) © 2025 The Author(s) . Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. | Published online: 02 Sep 2025. | | | --- | --- | | | Submit your article to this journal | | | Article views: 703 | | | View related articles | | View Crossmark data | | Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at [https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=tsep20](https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=tsep20) Conspiracy Theories, Resistance to Evidence, and Propaganda: How Conspiracy Theories Advance Political Causes M. Giulia Napolitano Erasmus School of Philosophy, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands ABSTRACT Whether deliberate or not, appeals to alleged conspiracies seem to advance political causes in an extraordinarily powerful way. In this paper, I offer an account of why this is so. I argue that some beliefs in conspiracies are self-insulated, in the sense that they are resistant to being revised, while maintaining the semblance of being rationally held in the face of mounting counterevidence. On my view, conspiracy allegations work as political propaganda when they contribute to the formation and sustainment of self-insulated beliefs in conspiracies. These self-insulated beliefs in conspiracies, in turn, structure the social-epistemic en

FAQs

为什么阴谋论的指涉会强力推动政治议程？

文章认为，阴谋指控能作为政治宣传发挥作用：它们帮助形成并维持“自我封闭”的阴谋信念，从而在社会认识环境中隔离异议声音。

文章如何解释阴谋信念为何能抵抗证据修正？

部分阴谋信念被概念化为自我封闭：即便在反证不断出现时，它们也能抵抗修订，并维持“似乎是理性持有”的表象。

文中给出了哪些例子来说明阴谋叙事的宣传效果？

文中提到纳粹宣传中的反犹阴谋论及其对政权权力巩固的作用，并讨论了俄罗斯在为对乌克兰的行动辩护时使用阴谋叙事的较近期案例。

Aug 25, 2026

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