The R files : applying relevance model to conspiracy theory fallacies

Abstract

The general aim of this article is to test how the relevance model can be of use to model argumentation. More specifically, to check if the theory developed by Sperber and Wilson (1986) is able to explain some specific fallacies, the so called "conspiracy theory fallacy". This paper contains: a short introduction both to fallacies and to relevance theory; a summary of two real conspiracy theories taken from the book "The 60 greatest conspiracies of all times", and a detailed analysis of these two conspiracies by means of the relevance model.