Kafkatraps, Cults, and Conspiracies (w/ Robert Gressis and Kevin Currie-Knight)

April 28, 2021 01:26:12
Kafkatraps, Cults, and Conspiracies (w/ Robert Gressis and Kevin Currie-Knight)
Sophia
Kafkatraps, Cults, and Conspiracies (w/ Robert Gressis and Kevin Currie-Knight)

Apr 28 2021 | 01:26:12

/

Show Notes

Robert Gressis (Cal State Northridge) and Kevin Currie-Knight (East Carolina University) talk about Kafkatraps. Kafkatrapping is a rhetorical technique where an objection to a particular charge will be used as evidence of that charge. (Are you a communist? If you say no, that just shows how sneaky a communist you are.) Rob and Kevin talk about how and why Kafkatraps work, their uses in cults, cospiracy theories, and other insular movements, and a few articles Kevin has written (for the Electric Agora) about Kafkatraps.

7:32 - When denials confirm the charge: what are Kafkatraps and how do they work?
16:31 - Kafkatrapping has a lengthy history
23:15 - Why do people (even unintentionally) employ Kafkatraps?
40:38 - Plausible and implausible reasons to doubt/dismiss the testimony of others
45:12 - Why cults often use Kafkatrapping techniques (and how Kevin almost became a scientologist)
54:34 - Why cults have to be small to see themselves as special
1:00:20 - How conspiracy theorists use Kafkatraps to dismiss naysayers

Other Episodes

Episode

May 07, 2019 01:27:25
Episode Cover

Realism, Anti-Realism and "Rabbity Moments" (Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell)

Realism vs. anti-realism ... Is reality the sum of human senses? ... Why Crispin is allergic to idealism ... “Rabbity moments” and Quine’s radical...

Listen

Episode

April 26, 2022 01:14:47
Episode Cover

What Can Philosophy Actually Do?

Robert Gressis (Cal State Northridge), Dan Kaufman (Missouri State) and Kevin Currie-Knight (East Carolina) discuss what is and isn't realistic to expect of philosophy....

Listen

Episode 0

August 26, 2021 01:10:09
Episode Cover

The Marx Brothers and American Comedy (w/ E. John Winner)

E. John Winner and Dan Kaufman (Electric Agora) talk about the Marx Brothers and their relationship to American Comedy. 1:30 Vaudeville, Burlesque, and Musical...

Listen