Nobody denies that conspiracies occur. They happen every time two or more people collude in order to secure some malign end. When people criticize “conspiracy theories,” it is a particular kind of conspiracy that they find implausible. I’ve written several times before about some of the marks of conspiracy theories of this dubious kind. They tend to be grounded in “narrative thinking” rather than a rigorous and dispassionate consideration of the merits and deficiencies of all alternative possible explanations. They tend to violate Ockham’s razor, posit conspiracies that are too vast and complicated to be psychologically and sociologically feasible, and reflect naiveté about the way modern bureaucracies function. The vastness of the posited conspiracy often has implications for the reliability of news media and other sources of information that make the theory epistemically self-defeating and unfalsifiable. (For simplicity’s sake, from here on out I’ll use the expression “conspiracy theories” to refer, specifically, to theories having vices like these – acknowledging, again, that there are conspiracies of a more plausible kind, and thus conspiracy theories of a more plausible kind.)
A superficially similar but at bottom very different sort of theory is represented by examples of the “hermeneutics of suspicion.” Theories of this kind posit forces which might seem analogous to the malign actors imagined by conspiracy theorists, but which ultimately operate in an impersonal manner. Hence Marxism analyzes prevailing moral and cultural institutions as ideologies functioning to uphold dominant economic interests, Foucault regards them as expressions of power, Critical Race Theory as expressions of “white supremacy,” and so on.
Such theories share some of the flaws of conspiracy theories. Like conspiracy theories, they rely on “narrative thinking” rather than rigorous argumentation, oversimplify complex social phenomena, and read sinister meaning into what is innocuous. They also tend to dismiss criticism and counterarguments as merely the expression of the purported sinister forces, rather than evaluating them logically and dispassionately. (“That’s just what the interests of [power, capital, white supremacy, etc.] want you to think!”) Like conspiracy theories, they thereby open themselves up to the charge of being self-defeating. If everything is “nothing but” the expression of some economic interest and can be dismissed as having no objective validity, why can’t we say the same of Marxism? If it is merely the expression of the interests of power, what power interests does Foucault’s analysis itself serve? If it is the expression of racism, how can Critical Race Theory itself be exempt?
All the same, instances of the “hermeneutics of suspicion” are not conspiracy theories, because they don’t attribute the phenomena they analyze to any sort of plotting or design. The claim is not that a cabal of capitalists, racists, or other powerful interests got together in a smoke-filled room to map out how cultural and social institutions would be set up. Rather, the malign forces such a theory posits are treated as impersonal abstractions that (somehow) nevertheless operate as if they were concrete, personal entities. Accordingly, such theories tend to commit a fallacy of hypostatization or reification. Where conspiracy theories attribute too much to human agency, the hermeneutics of suspicion attributes too little to it. Abstractions like “capital,” “power,” “white supremacy,” etc. don’t exist over and above specific individuals and institutions who could intelligibly be said, whether correctly or incorrectly, to exercise power, to have economic interests, to harbor racist attitudes, or whatever. Hence, to the extent that an analysis cannot be cashed out in terms of the motives and activities of such specific individuals and institutions, it fails to capture anything real.
Now, there is a third kind of theory which claims to explain the same sorts of phenomena as conspiracy theories and the hermeneutics of suspicion, but does not have the problems that those approaches exhibit. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a commonly accepted label for this approach. Borrowing from F. A. Hayek, I’ll label them theories of “spontaneous order,” though I’m not entirely happy with the phrase. In addition to Hayek, the best-known representatives of this sort of approach are the Scottish Enlightenment thinkers Adam Smith and Adam Ferguson. Smith’s “invisible hand” principle is one application, as is Hayek’s elaboration of how prices generated in the free market encapsulate scattered bits of information that would otherwise be inaccessible to economic actors. In an earlier post, I suggested that Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky’s “propaganda model” of mass media, when abstracted from the specific political assumptions they bring to bear on it, counts as another application.
What analyses of this kind describe are, as Ferguson famously put it, “the results of human action but not of human design.” Smith argues that when economic agents act in their own best interests, society in general reaps unforeseen benefits insofar as production, innovation, services, etc. are efficiently fitted to actual demand. Hayek argues that when consumers are guided by market prices, economic information is communicated and used as effectively as possible. Herman and Chomsky argue that the incentives built into a corporately-owned media system tend naturally to filter out information and opinions awareness of which would be contrary to the common interests of corporations and governments.
Now, you may or may not agree with one or more of these theories of “spontaneous order.” That’s fine. I’m neither defending nor criticizing any of them here, but just using them as examples of a general style of analysis. Note, however, that you don’t need to agree with the use these theorists make of these theories in order to find the theories themselves of interest. Smith and Hayek are favorable to the market economy, and Herman and Chomsky are unfavorable to corporate media. But that is irrelevant to the cogency (or lack thereof) of their analyses. Someone could agree that the effects described by Smith and Hayek are real and still be unfavorable toward the free market, and someone could agree that the effects described by Herman and Chomsky are real and still favor corporate media. It all depends on what other premises and values are factored into one’s overall political or economic view of things.
Anyway, the thing to emphasize for present purposes is that theories of “spontaneous order” are neither conspiracy theories nor instances of the hermeneutics of suspicion. The effects described by Smith, Hayek, and Herman and Chomsky are brought about by specific human beings and specific institutions acting in clearly identifiable ways according to explicit motives. There is no reference to reified abstractions acting in ways that only personal or other concrete entities can. (The “invisible hand” is no exception, because Smith’s whole point is that there is no such hand. It’s only as if there were.)
At the same time, these specific agents and institutions are not acting with the intention or design of bringing about the specific effects that Smith, Hayek, and Edward and Chomsky describe. There is no conspiracy. Consumers are not consciously trying to increase the efficiency with which economic information is transmitted, reporters are not consciously trying to uphold the interests of corporations, and so on. Again, the whole point of theories of this kind is to explain how complex social patterns can be “the results of human action” and at the same time “not of human design.”
We might think of the systems posited by “spontaneous order” theorists on the model of what philosopher of science Nancy Cartwright calls “nomological machines.” A nomological machine is a system of substances whose causal powers, when acting in tandem, generate patterns which approximate laws of nature. For example, the solar system is a nomological machine. What it is fundamentally made up of are objects like our sun, the various planets and asteroids, etc., all with their distinctive properties and powers. Given that such objects are in the right sort of proximity to one another and mutually trigger the operation of their causal powers, the result is a system that more or less operates in the way described by Kepler’s laws of planetary motion. Cartwright’s point is that laws of nature are not fundamental to physical reality. Rather, what are fundamental to physical reality are various concrete physical substances, and their distinctive properties and causal powers. When these substances get into the right configuration, the result is a pattern that approximates a law. Laws are, accordingly, idealized descriptions of phenomena that are themselves derivative from something more fundamental. Treating laws as themselves the fundamental facts about physical reality just gets the natural world badly wrong. (See chapter 3 of my book Aristotle’s Revenge for detailed exposition and defense of this sort of view.)
The processes posited by theories of “spontaneous order” are like this. Given a collection of individual economic actors responding to market forces, the result (the theory says) will be the patterns described by Smith and Hayek. It’s as if these economic actors are following economic laws, but really they are not. Any purported economic laws are really only approximations at best of complex patterns that arise when economic actors interact in certain ways under certain conditions. Something similar can be said of the behavior of media personnel, government officials, etc. in the context described by Herman and Chomsky’s propaganda model. It’s as if they are following some law of corporate media behavior, though really they are not.
Because human beings and social phenomena are vastly more complex than (say) the solar system, the “laws” in these cases are only very remote approximations and idealizations, rather than closely conforming to what actually happens (since human beings, after all, are moved by far more than merely economic considerations, political incentives, etc.). There are and can be no strict “laws” where human beings and social phenomena are concerned. But the “spontaneous order” models are still useful, because they do capture real systemic features and tendencies, even if mere tendencies (rather than exceptionless patterns) is all they are.
I would suggest that Cartwright’s account provides one way of seeing what is wrong with conspiracy theories and the hermeneutics of suspicion. Cartwright’s neo-Aristotelian view of laws is what you might call a “bottom-up” view. Again, what are fundamental to nature are concrete substances and their powers, and laws are derivative abstractions, and typically approximations at best. (This is true, as Cartwright famously argues, even of laws of physics.) The view she opposes takes a “top-down” view of laws, according to which laws are the fundamental physical reality and imposed from above on the rest of nature – whether by a divine designer, or as just a brute fact about the world.
Conspiracy theories and the hermeneutics of suspicion are, I submit, comparable to “top-down” views about laws of nature, and are especially comparable to attempts to identify strict “laws” governing economic or other social phenomena. They both try to wedge what is really a very messy, complex social reality into a simplistic model that abstracts from how human beings and human institutions actually operate. Conspiracy theories do so by identifying a “designer” of the patterns they claim to explain, whereas the hermeneutics of suspicion takes those patterns to be something like a brute fact about the social world rather than the product of design. (I don’t claim that my analogy here is terribly exact, only that it is suggestive.)
The Substack writer Eugyppius has written some helpful articles (e.g. here and here) about why the manner in which governments have handled the Covid-19 situation is best understood in “spontaneous order” terms rather than in terms of conspiracy. In particular, the stubbornly incompetent and callous nature of pandemic policy reflects the incentives, values, and information flow that prevail in modern bureaucracies, rather than centralized planning.
As Eugyppius emphasizes, this by no means entails that those responsible for making policy don’t often have bad motives. That’s not the point. The point is that in order effectively to counter destructive policies and corrupt and incompetent authorities, we need to understand how social institutions, including governments, actually work. Conspiracy theories and the hermeneutics of suspicion darken our understanding – and thereby inadvertently give aid and comfort to bad policymakers whom we can effectively resist only with sobriety.
(Editor’s note: This essay originally appeared on the author’s blog in a slightly different form and is reprinted here with his kind permission.)
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This is an important essay. I will check out the book Aristotle’s Revenge. To Dr. Freser: Good work!
A thought provoking, incisive proposal.
To look at God’s word for revelation, He rewards those who seek Him diligently. Indeed, there are mysterious biblical verses that are difficult to unmask, yet is it necessary for us to understand all of scripture? While to our benefit to know fundamental truths contained in the bible, some exegetics is better left to biblical scholars.
Being a layman, there is still much to learn and comprehend., yet, God’s word is a grace note in unravelling His purpose.
Colossians 1:16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
Isaiah 44:24 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,
Hebrews 1:2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
Revelation 3:21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
Blessings and appreciation.
Dr Feser offers us an intellectual cleansing of our garden variety paranoid suppositions. Does enlightenment then mean we simply determine that’s how things work for good or for bad when the evidence [credentialed specialists] encourages expectation for good when they go bad? Feser’s third model of a hermeneutics of suspicion seems a more workable understanding of our normal inquisitiveness without acquiescing to unrealistic [in my judgment] spontaneous order when analyzing human behavior. For example the Covid policies and the response by many of purposeful manipulation of the public. Much of what turned out to be error was due to a new infectious agent and the unknown. Nevertheless conspiracy theories are multiple and still running at full steam like runaway locomotives. Although,the legitimate question [suspicion] remains whether the crisis was exploited?
Intellectuals have an ingrown tendency for excessive analysis [Wittgenstein put it this way when we continue, to overanalyze after reaching a viable conclusion, Leave the damn thing alone?]. Suspicion is not an evil if we assume a level of inquisitiveness. After all, it’s Christ’s wisdom that counsels us to be as innocent as doves and as clever as serpents.
A beneficial addendum. Thanks and blessings.
“Conspiracy theories and the hermeneutics of suspicion are, I submit, comparable to “top-down” views about laws of nature, and are especially comparable to attempts to identify strict “laws” governing economic or other social phenomena. ”
Anything that is an attempt at explanation is a search for causes, and “conspiracy theories” that are reductive are as bad as a priori beliefs that conspiracies do not happen. However, the observation that some hold more power and influence than the majority of people and are able to exercise that power and influence to have an impact on the lives of the majority is an observation based on evidence. For example, what Pfizer did to get FDA approval, despite its own study on its fake vaccine product.
We read: “The point is that in order effectively to counter destructive policies and corrupt and incompetent authorities, we need to understand how social institutions, including governments, actually work.”
My suspicion (!) is that if I read this article several times I will not be convinced…
What if a conspiracy theory is not simplistically “top down” as with the laws of nature, but from the inside out? As when Nikita Khrushchev referred globally to “the correlation of forces,” such that revolutionary Marxism then exploits the evolving pattern from within—as with Lenin’s vanguard?
The question, then, is not so much how host “institutions” actually work, but rather how parasites like tapeworms actually work. As a naval officer I had one man who continued losing weight and for months the onboard medical team was unable to detect a systemic cause. Finally, the man started chewing and swallowing tobacco. In his own words—as a human “institution”—he reported that he started “sh-ting worms like you can’t believe!” And, everything came out all right, so to speak. He started absorbing nutrition, recovered, and regained all of his lost weight.
As we speak of a flock of geese, and a murder of crows, might we also speak of a “conspiracy” or “hermeneutics” of worms—-regardless of their lack of motive?
As we note in our recently released book, “The Greater Reset,” while there are undoubtedly conspiracies, a badly structured system — the vast network of institutions that make up the common good — can mimic a conspiracy exactly. Fortunately, the remedy is the same in both cases (i.e., for real conspiracies and badly flawed systems): organize and restructure institutions through acts of social justice so that the system operates for the benefit of people, rather than against them. Acts o0f social justice are not substitutes or replacements for acts of individual justice or charity, but enable individual virtues to function once again within a suitable environment. Once the social order has been restructured, then people can if they want to waste their time go after conspiracies, but the real response is to make it impossible for conspiracies to be effective, not to search out the presumably guilty.
https://tanbooks.com/contemporary-issues/social-issues/the-greater-reset-reclaiming-human-sovereignty-under-natural-law/
“we need to understand how social institutions, including governments, actually work.”
Ok, and “…conspiracies occur…every time two or more people collude in order to secure some (malign?) end
Ok
So why cant they be the same thing?
Most people believe they are
Considering our sitting President just announced we are headed to a New World Order, well, more like conspiract FACT
Interesting article (and comments) but what all the conceptualizations mentioned by Feser leave out is the possibility of demonic principalities and powers at work. The transgender phenomena, for instance, going from near zero to widespread within a few years simply cannot be fully explained by any natural cause. No doubt there are explainable social phenomena contributing, fashions of behavior come and go like other fashions among humans for purely social reasons, but fashion does not explain the deep-seated false beliefs that have become widespread. I suspect Pope Francis is on target by calling the transgender phenomena demonic and that such demonic influences are at work upon the human minds (perhaps deep in the unconscious) and souls in an organized way.
“Now, you may or may not agree with one or more of these theories of “spontaneous order.” That’s fine. I’m neither defending nor criticizing any of them here, but just using them as examples of a general style of analysis.”
Hegel much?
That’s what they say to seminarians when they propose natural explanations for the miracles in scripture.
Just a seed of doubt.
Later, the abundant harvest of apostacy.
The term “conspiracy theory” in its modern pejorative sense was invented by the CIA in response to evidence that the assassination of JFK wasn’t as the Warren Commission had found. Prior to this, I have found that “conspiracy theory” was about whether there was a conspiracy involved in a criminal case, and, if so, how it actually occurred.
The word “theory” in the phrase “conspiracy theory” is used to discredit any person who posits a conspiracy that exposes those in power. The use of the phrase is typically an example of the fallacy of arguing from incredulity or possibly a subtle ad hominem abusive.
“Something similar can be said of the behavior of media personnel, government officials, etc. in the context described by Herman and Chomsky’s propaganda model. It’s as if they are following some law of corporate media behavior, though really they are not.”
So the media company that won’t publish information that would hurt their advertisers isn’t following a law. One can think of one business “law” – “the customer is always right.”
“The Substack writer Eugyppius has written some helpful articles (e.g. here and here) about why the manner in which governments have handled the Covid-19 situation is best understood in “spontaneous order” terms rather than in terms of conspiracy.”
So the fact that every president that refused the “vaccine” (gene therapy) or vaccine for what is likely a fictitious “virus” (As viral theory is potentially fraudulent and at least certainly incorrect. There is a least one book in medical libraries that calls out the germ theory as mistaken.) ended up being assassinated wouldn’t suggest a conspiracy?
“In particular, the stubbornly incompetent and callous nature of pandemic policy reflects the incentives, values, and information flow that prevail in modern bureaucracies, rather than centralized planning.”
Has the author heard of Event 201? It was a planning exercise at John Hopkins University in fall 2019 about how to respond to a novel “coronavirus.” The central focus of the exercise, apparently, was “controlling the narrative.”
A person typed online about a week ago
“Just some things to ponder 🤔 💭
What is an Egyptian pyramid doing on a US dollar bill?
Why have 56 countries signed a treaty to not venture into Antarctica?
Why do planes never fly over Antarctica?
How is it that the moon is the perfect distance and position to cover the sun PERFECTLY and EQUIDISTANTLY during an eclipse, instead of too small or big or off to one side?
How did NASA ‘lose’ the moon landing footage? Arguably one of the most advanced agencies AND one of the most important moments for mankind?
If Neil Armstrong was first on the moon, who held the camera?
Why haven’t we been to the moon since 1969-1972?
Why do official NASA images show images of the Earth with different sized and grossly disproportionate continents year to year?
If apes evolved into people, why are apes still apes?
How is there 95% ‘junk’ DNA? Who decided it’s actually ‘junk’?
How were giant, symmetrical, detailed, sacred geometrically sound structures like cathedrals and parliament buildings created by people who lived in wooden shacks, rode horse-drawn carts and didn’t have any machinery, or lasers?
Why is this same predeluvian architecture found all over the world?
Why are there spaceships depicted on ancient Egyptian art?
Why do we have to pay to LIVE on a planet we were BORN on?
Why are there images of mushrooms all over ancient Christian art?
Why do popes dress like giant amanita muscaria mushrooms? 🍄
How is it cheaper to buy fast food made from rearing, feeding and housing a cow than to buy natural fruit and veg?
Why do ancient Egyptian artworks depict pinecones and is it a coincidence that the pineal gland also looks like a pinecone?
Why are there depictions of dragons all over the world across different cultures, thousands of years apart?
Why are the giant flat topped mountains in the world consistent with the geometry of giant petrified trees?
Why is there so much overtly demonic symbolism in the music and entertainment industry?
Why do pilots not have to adjust the nose cone of a plane to account for the curvature of the Earth?
Why do almost all video games revolve around killing??
Why are our names on official documents written in block capitals the same way they are on tomb stones and corporations?
How is it that movies and cartoons like the Simpsons are able to so accurately and precisely predict specific cultural events?
How do bush fires melt cars yet leave trees intact?
Where does taxpayer money go and does that make us complicit in any of its nefarious use?
Why is being ‘out of a job’ considered bad?
Why does the ‘office’ so closely resemble the ‘classroom’?
Why is poisoning ourselves regularly with alcohol considered ‘normal’ and euphemistically called ‘drinking’?
Why is alcohol depicted in almost every show and movie?
How do news anchors all over the world and on different channels say and repeat the same exact script verbatim?
If we are more advanced than we’ve EVER been and more knowledgeable, why do we have the highest rates of obesity, cancer and heart issues not to mention depression?
Some people accept the answers they’ve been fed. I feel the true answers surface when we begin asking better questions.”