{"id":{"repo_id":"oxford-brookes","oai_identifier":"tle:5432bd15-607e-4e8a-bacd-1f728811bf45:d6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca:1"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/oxford-brookes/tle:5432bd15-607e-4e8a-bacd-1f728811bf45:d6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca:1","repository":{"repo_id":"oxford-brookes","name":"Oxford Brookes University","base_url":"https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/oai"},"display":{"title":"‘It’s all a cover up!’: An Examination of Epistemic Vices and Conspiracy Theories in the Internet Age","abstract":"Conspiracy theories and fake news can be found in both off and online discourse. With COVID-19 still mutating, the same can be said for disinformation. At the beginning there were conspiracies that COVID- 19 was engineered to prevent global population growth, and now on vaccine hesitancy, with some conspiracies pointing to embryos being used as an ingredient to the vaccines. In this paper, I aim to address the era of digitality in which we live, asking and answering fundamental questions such as: what is fake news? How harmful are conspiracy theories? Has there been a shift in the conspiracy theory paradigm? And is there a way to prevent conspiracy theory growth? To answer such questions, I will focus on the philosophical discipline of vice epistemology: vicious intellectual characteristics that can give way to a loss of knowledge i.e., closed- mindedness, lack of thoroughness, dogmatism and more. Moreover, I will introduce my theory ‘Epistemic Cluster Vices’ to categorise each recognised vice into their respective groups and assess whether other epistemic vices can off-shoot from the is a central/ capital vice. It must be stated that my theory is in its embryonic stage and further academic examination is necessary to cement this idea into vice epistemology.","abstract_html":"Conspiracy theories and fake news can be found in both off and online discourse. With COVID-19 still mutating, the same can be said for disinformation. At the beginning there were conspiracies that COVID- 19 was engineered to prevent global population growth, and now on vaccine hesitancy, with some conspiracies pointing to embryos being used as an ingredient to the vaccines. In this paper, I aim to address the era of digitality in which we live, asking and answering fundamental questions such as: what is fake news? How harmful are conspiracy theories? Has there been a shift in the conspiracy theory paradigm? And is there a way to prevent conspiracy theory growth? To answer such questions, I will focus on the philosophical discipline of vice epistemology: vicious intellectual characteristics that can give way to a loss of knowledge i.e., closed- mindedness, lack of thoroughness, dogmatism and more. Moreover, I will introduce my theory ‘Epistemic Cluster Vices’ to categorise each recognised vice into their respective groups and assess whether other epistemic vices can off-shoot from the is a central/ capital vice. It must be stated that my theory is in its embryonic stage and further academic examination is necessary to cement this idea into vice epistemology.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["D'Arcy-Grantham, Joshua Michael"],"institution":"Oxford Brookes University","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["O'Brien, Daniel"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021","date_published":"2021","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:43:36Z","subjects":[],"languages":["en"],"rights":["All rights reserved"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://doi.org/10.24384/2fke-hn07","outbound_label":"DOI","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["O'Brien, Daniel","D'Arcy-Grantham, Joshua Michael"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["D'Arcy-Grantham, Joshua Michael"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2021"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Oxford Brookes University"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["thesis"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["All rights reserved"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://doi.org/10.24384/2fke-hn07","https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/file/5432bd15-607e-4e8a-bacd-1f728811bf45/1/Joshua Michael D'Arcy- Grantham Final Thesis.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Conspiracy theories and fake news can be found in both off and online discourse. With COVID-19 still mutating, the same can be said for disinformation. At the beginning there were conspiracies that COVID- 19 was engineered to prevent global population growth, and now on vaccine hesitancy, with some conspiracies pointing to embryos being used as an ingredient to the vaccines. In this paper, I aim to address the era of digitality in which we live, asking and answering fundamental questions such as: what is fake news? How harmful are conspiracy theories? Has there been a shift in the conspiracy theory paradigm? And is there a way to prevent conspiracy theory growth? To answer such questions, I will focus on the philosophical discipline of vice epistemology: vicious intellectual characteristics that can give way to a loss of knowledge i.e., closed- mindedness, lack of thoroughness, dogmatism and more. Moreover, I will introduce my theory ‘Epistemic Cluster Vices’ to categorise each recognised vice into their respective groups and assess whether other epistemic vices can off-shoot from the is a central/ capital vice. It must be stated that my theory is in its embryonic stage and further academic examination is necessary to cement this idea into vice epistemology."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["‘It’s all a cover up!’: An Examination of Epistemic Vices and Conspiracy Theories in the Internet Age"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["O'Brien, Daniel","D'Arcy-Grantham, Joshua Michael"],"dc:creator":["D'Arcy-Grantham, Joshua Michael"],"dc:date":["2021"],"dc:description":["Conspiracy theories and fake news can be found in both off and online discourse. With COVID-19 still mutating, the same can be said for disinformation. At the beginning there were conspiracies that COVID- 19 was engineered to prevent global population growth, and now on vaccine hesitancy, with some conspiracies pointing to embryos being used as an ingredient to the vaccines. In this paper, I aim to address the era of digitality in which we live, asking and answering fundamental questions such as: what is fake news? How harmful are conspiracy theories? Has there been a shift in the conspiracy theory paradigm? And is there a way to prevent conspiracy theory growth? To answer such questions, I will focus on the philosophical discipline of vice epistemology: vicious intellectual characteristics that can give way to a loss of knowledge i.e., closed- mindedness, lack of thoroughness, dogmatism and more. Moreover, I will introduce my theory ‘Epistemic Cluster Vices’ to categorise each recognised vice into their respective groups and assess whether other epistemic vices can off-shoot from the is a central/ capital vice. It must be stated that my theory is in its embryonic stage and further academic examination is necessary to cement this idea into vice epistemology."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://doi.org/10.24384/2fke-hn07","https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/file/5432bd15-607e-4e8a-bacd-1f728811bf45/1/Joshua Michael D'Arcy- Grantham Final Thesis.pdf"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:publisher":["Oxford Brookes University"],"dc:rights":["All rights reserved"],"dc:title":["‘It’s all a cover up!’: An Examination of Epistemic Vices and Conspiracy Theories in the Internet Age"],"dc:type":["thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:43:36Z"}