The Cambridge Dictionary defines conspiracy theory as: a belief that an event or situation is the result of a secret plan made by powerful people; by Oxford Dictionary as: the theory that an event or phenomenon occurs as a result of a conspiracy between interested parties, or “with a speculative meaning”: a belief that some covert but influential agency (typically political in motivation and oppressive in intent) is responsible for an unexplained event.
With conceptual roots dating to roughly between 1870 and 1970, the term features as the central ingredient a group of conspirators acting in secret. In Latin “conspirare” literally signifies to breathe together, and was etymologically traced back to the 14th century Anglo-French word conspirer; plotter is synonym to conspirator.
A scholastic definition refers to an explanation, either speculative or evidence-based, which attributes the causes of an event to a conspiracy or a plot, which not only describes or explains an alleged conspiracy but uncovers it and exposes some remarkable and hitherto unknown “truth” about the world.
In common law, conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to commit an unlawful act or to accomplish a lawful end by unlawful means, and is perhaps the most amorphous area in Anglo-American criminal law.
A practical definition is provided by the European Commission as the belief that certain events or situations are secretly manipulated behind the scenes by powerful forces with negative intent, and which has several key elements: an alleged, secret plot; a group of conspirators; “evidence” that seems to support the theory, which falsely suggests that nothing happens by accident and that there are no coincidences, that nothing is as it appears and everything is connected; it divides the world into good and bad and scapegoats people and groups.
Conspiracy theories deal with large-scale events, e.g. the AIDS epidemic, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, 9/11, COVID-19, the fake moon landing, or the existence of aliens kept secret by foreign governments. Apart from politics, scholars identify conspiracy theories linked to science, religion, and other aspects of daily life.
Authors consider conspiracy theories to be true, false, or neutral. The negative connotation is widespread, such that it seems almost oxymoronic that a conspiracy theory might be neutral. A conspiracy theory is considered neutral in so far as it does not imply wrong-doing or is unlikely to be true. References to “illegal” or “improper” actions that alter the course of events are often used loosely, as it depends on the person who defines what is legal or illegal. Other scholars would argue that it is necessary to add an additional condition, namely nefariousness: conspiracy theorists believe that powerful agents are conspiring to achieve nefarious aims and to orchestrate a cover-up.
A crucial aspect put forward by psychologists is that conspiracists’ thought processes are inherently self-enclosed, such that “contrary evidence” is re-interpreted as evidence for the theory. Authors argue that conspiratorial thinking is not necessarily truth-seeking behaviour but can often be a near-self destructive form of scepticism.
