Obscurantist Obfuscation

UM > Faculty of Arts and Humanities > DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES

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Status	已發表Published
	Obscurantist Obfuscation
	BENJAMIN IAN WINOKUR
	2024-09
Size of Audience	12
Type of Speaker	Invited Speaker
Abstract	In this paper I elucidate an epistemic manipulation technique that I call obfuscation. Obfuscators supply their victims with misleading reasons to believe (1) that they (the victims) are incapable of understanding a subject matter S to some significant degree, and (2) that the obfuscator understands S to a degree significantly beyond the victim’s capability. When obfuscation succeeds, victims adopt policies of epistemic deference toward their obfuscator even though the obfuscator is not actually deserving of such deference. One species of obfuscation can be called obscurantism. Drawing on existing discussions of phenomena that have gone by the same name, I argue that obscurantism can indeed function as a species of obfuscation. I then offer some suggestions about the potential mechanisms of obscurantist obfuscation, i.e., the various possible contents of obscurantist speech that can be used to induce obfuscation. Next I discuss how obscurantist obfuscation can be used in concert with other epistemic manipulation techniques to create especially pernicious cognitive traps for victims. Finally, I conclude with some remarks about the intrinsic difficulties involved in dealing with obscurantist obfuscation, both as an epistemic manipulation technique in its own right and as a technique that harmonizes in disturbing ways with other forms of epistemic manipulation.
Keyword	Obfuscation Obscurantism Pseudoprofundity Epistemology
Conference Date	September 16th 2024
Conference Place	Lingnan University
Language	英語English
Document Type	Presentation
Collection	DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES
Affiliation	University of Macau
First Author Affilication	University of Macau
Recommended Citation GB/T 7714	BENJAMIN IAN WINOKUR. Obscurantist Obfuscation, September 16th 2024.

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