# Conspiracy Theories and Circular Logic - I'm fairly certain that the indulgence in conspiracy theories requires the employment of circular logic to maintain. - At the least, it requires dubious truth claims and inferences (thus compounding the error in the logic) in order to make each successive leap. - It requires motivation, intent, and what _could_ have happened, since the truth is, by definition, inaccessible. - Once you've accepted one of the premises, you're now on the circular logic merry-go-round! - How to combat this? - Separate each truth claim and examine it individually. Don't relate it to other truth claims. Establish the veracity of a single, well-defined question. - Make sure each claim is well-defined and causally linked. Don't settle for vague assertions or possibilities. Either a thing is true or it is not true. - Claims must be falsifiable! - You don't have to resort to: - Trust/mistrust of the "wisdom of the crowds" - You should _liberally_ apply Occam's Razor - simpler explanations are by definition better. - Surprising explanations bear more burden of proof. Helpful articles: - http://www.butte.edu/departments/cas/tipsheets/thinking/conspiracy.html - https://theconversation.com/the-ironclad-logic-of-conspiracy-theories-and-how-to-break-it-31684 - https://www2.palomar.edu/users/bthompson/Canceling%20Hypotheses.html