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About this quote

What does it mean?
Paranoid theories can be internally coherent even if they contradict reality.
In plain terms
Conspiracy theories make sense inside their own logic.
What can you take from it?
Logic doesn't always mean truth.

Where it applies

  • critical thinking
  • evaluating theories

Putting it to work

  • test theories against evidence

Questions to consider

  • Can a theory be logical but wrong?

Another view

Reality is often less coherent than theories suggest.

More from Richard Hofstadter

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  2. Over time, Hofstadter came to identify himself primarily as Jewish.

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  3. The paranoid spokesman sees the fate of conspiracy in apocalyptic terms - he traffics in the birth and death of whole worlds, whole political orders, whole sys…

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