Popper’s influential contribution to the analysis of modern conspiracy culture is complemented by the lesser – known concept of the ‘conspiracy theory of ignorance’: The notion that our ignorance is deliberately caused by some conspiring power that not only obscures the truth but infuses us with reluctance to its knowledge (Popper 2002: 4). While the conspiracy theory of society explains why things happen, the conspiracy theory of ignorance explains why we do not know why things happen: Someone (journalists working for the capitalist press, the clergy, etc.) does not want us to know, and is actively conspiring to keep the truth from us. This theory, Popper argues, is ‘the almost inevitable consequence of the optimistic belief that truth, and therefore goodness, must prevail if only truth is given a fair chance’ (Popper 2002: 10). But, this ‘false epistemology’ was also ‘the major inspiration of an intellectual and moral revolution without parallel in history’ (Popper 2002: 10). If the conspiracy theory of ignorance is a mistake, it is, Popper admits, a fruitful mistake. Conspiracy theories are not just side-effects of modernity but may have played a part in bringing modernity forth. If the accusation of ‘priestly deception’ is, in Popper’s view, a prime example of the conspiracy theory of ignorance, its prominent role in the Enlightenment, and hence in the coming of modernity, must be conceded (see Lancaster, McKenzie-McHarg 2018).
– ‘Sociology, social theory and conspiracy theory’, in Routledge Handbook of Conspiracy Theories (2020), p. 101
Lancaster, J.T. and McKenzie-McHarg, A. (2018) ‘Priestcraft. Early modern variations on the theme of sacerdotal imposture’, Intellectual History Review, 28(1): 1-6.
Popper, K. (2002) Conjectures and refutations: the growth of scientific knowledge, reprint, New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul.