Conspiracies, Facts, and Truth II

The aim of this workshop (a follow-up to a workshop on the same theme in early 2025) is to share new work on the philosophy of conspiracy theory theory, as well as the nature and value of truth and facts in public discourse more generally.

Timetable:

Thursday, 19 February 2026

9:55am – 10:00am - Conference Introduction

10:00am – 10:45am - Carien Smith: Pseudoscientific Conspiracy Theories: A Categorically Unwarranted Class of Doctrines

10:45am – 11:30am - Alberto Morán Roa: Affectivity and Epistemology: Conspriacies as ALempts at Trust and Skepticism

11:30am – 12:15pm - Roman Krzanowski: Assessing the Status of Truth in Transformer Systems: Epistemological and Ethical Perspectives

12:15pm – 1:00pm - Andrei Prudnikov: Conspiratorial Invariants and the Formation of a “Popular Epistemology”: The Russian “Population Reduction” Narrative from Margins to Mainstream

Lunch -  1:00pm – 2:30pm

2:30pm – 3:15pm - Will Mittendorf: From Expertise to Procedure: A Community of Inquiry Model for Investigating Conspiracy Theories

3:15pm – 4:00pm - Martin Orr & M Dentith: What People Think about Conspiracy Theories May Surprise You

4:15pm – 5:00pm - Sushruth Ravish & Jothsna Rajan: Conspiracy Community: Rethinking ‘Belief’ In Conspiracy Theories

6:00pm - Dinner and Drinks at The Hamilton Theatre District

Friday, 20 February 2026

10:00am – 10:45am - Ciara Foley: Conspiracy Myths

10:45am – 11:30am - Sean Muller: Using Conspiracy Theories to Discredit Truth

11:30am – 12:15pm - Pablo Vera Vega: Redefining Bullshit: Beyond Truth to a Principle of (In)Tolerance

12:15pm – 1:00pm - Patrick Brooks: How Headlines Systematically Misinform Readers

Lunch-  1:00pm to 2:30pm

2:30pm – 3:15pm - Piotr Litwin:  Chat, Do My Own Research For Me: Talking with AI about Conspiracies

3:15pm – 4:00pm - Kele Perkins: The Checking-Off Method in Conspiracy Theories

4:15pm – 5:00pm - M Dentith: Do Conspiracy Theorists Believe Their Conspiracy Theories?

6:00pm - Dinner and Drinks at Made Hamilton East

Teams link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MTY1NWJmMDYtMTkyNS00MGZkLTkxYzQtZjRlZjNhMTM2Mjkz%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22220f5dc3-9452-48e5-9b4f-888df42f7a2d%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%220a84b717-a0cc-4147-b5f3-aa95a30973c1%22%7d.