Rhetoric and psychology: the interdisciplinary challenge of conspiracy theories

Abstract

Conspiracy theories are now central to our democratic societies, the academic world, and civil society. All seem to agree that we should be able to prevent the presence and spread of conspiracy theories in the public sphere. While this objective is generally recognized, the way to achieve it remains unclear. Like others, we believe that interdisciplinarity is one possible answer. However, this path presents several challenges, the first of which is mutual understanding. In this article, we examine the book of Iacone, Loria, and Meini on conspiracy (2023), to show how the psychological and rhetorical approaches to conspiracy theories can dialogue and understand each other.

Keywords

• interdisciplinarity
• rhetoric
• conspiracy
• psychology