The entire concept of "conspiracy theories" is a persuasive device. Calling someone a conspiracy theorist isn't an argument, it's a rhetorical trick to discredi

The entire concept of "conspiracy theories" is a persuasive device. Calling someone a conspiracy theorist isn't an argument, it's a rhetorical trick to discredit and disqualify the target, independent of the truth value of the target's claim. Or, as Harry Frankfurt calls it, bullshit. I think I'm going to have to expand my list of normative sciences to four: 1) Logic, the normative science of what is true. 2) Aesthetic, the normative science of what is beautiful. 3) Ethic, the normative science of what is good. 4) Rhetoric, the normative science of what can be persuaded. To be rigorous, which I admit often isn't worth the effort, one would have to examine a so-called conspiracy theory along every one of those axes that's germane.