1. Conspiracies Or Institutions: 9-11 and Beyond
   Resource Type: Article/Report/Letter
   Published: 2002
   Why and how does much (but not all) conspiracy theorizing create a tendency for people to depart from rational analysis?
2. Critical Theory
   Resource Type: Book
   Published: 1972
   Essays by the founder of the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt.
3. Encyclopedia of Philosophy
   Resource Type: Book
   Published: 1972
   
4. Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science
   Resource Type: Book
   Published: 1998
   The authors criticize postmodernism in academia for its misuses of scientific and mathematical concepts in postmodern writing. Fashionable Nonsense examines two related topics: (1) The incompetent and pretentious usage of scientific concepts by a small group of influential philosophers and intellectuals; (2) the problems of cognitive relativism, the idea that "modern science is nothing more than a 'myth', a 'narration' or a 'social construction' among many others". The stated goal of the book is not to attack "philosophy, the humanities or the social sciences in general...[but] to warn those who work in them (especially students) against some manifest cases of charlatanism," and in particular to "deconstruct" the notion that some books and writers are difficult because they deal with profound and difficult ideas. "If the texts seem incomprehensible, it is for the excellent reason that they mean precisely nothing." The book includes long extracts from the works of Jacques Lacan, Julia Kristeva, Paul Virilio, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, Luce Irigaray, Bruno Latour, and Jean Baudrillard who are considered by some to be leading academics of Continental philosophy, critical theory, psychoanalysis or social sciences. Sokal and Bricmont set out to show how those intellectuals have used concepts from the physical sciences and mathematics incorrectly. The extracts are intentionally rather long to avoid accusations of taking sentences out of context.
   Published in French as Impostures Intellectuelles and in the United Kingdom as Intellectual Impostures.
5. A field guide to critical thinking
   Resource Type: Article/Report/Letter
   
6. How to Win an Argument
   Resource Type: Book
   Published: 1979
   Michael Gilbert sets out to show how to identify and defend oneself against tricky and flawed arguments.
7. 9/11: Debunking The Myths
   Resource Type: Article/Report/Letter
   Published: 2005
   Popular Mechanics special report on September 11 conspiracy theories.
8. 9-11 Loose Change Second Edition Viewer Guide
   Resource Type: Article/Report/Letter
   Debunking 9/11 conspiracy theories.
9. Postmodern Disrobed
   Review of Intellectual Impostures
   Resource Type: Article/Report/Letter
   Published: 1998
   An admirable job of exposing the daffy absurdity of postmodernism intellectuals.
10. Problems of Knowledge and Freedom
    The Russell Lectures
    Resource Type: Book
    Published: 1972
    These lectures explore Russell's work on empiricism, morality, linguistics and politics.
11. Rationality/Science
    Resource Type: Article/Report/Letter
    Published: 1995
    Chomsky writes: "It strikes me as remarkable that the left today should seek to deprive oppressed people not only of the joys of understanding and insight, but also of tools of emancipation, informing us that the "project of the Enlightenment" is dead, that we must abandon the "illusions" of science and rationality--a message that will gladden the hearts of the powerful, delighted to monopolize these instruments for their own use."
12. The September 11 X-Files
    Resource Type: Article/Report/Letter
    Published: 2002
    One problem with conspiracy theorizing is that it can distract from the true and (sometimes mundane) misdeeds and mistakes of government.
13. The Truth About the "9/11 Truth Movement"
    Resource Type: Article/Report/Letter
    Published: 2006
    A rebuttal of some of the claims made by 9/11 conspiracy theorists.
14. When 9/11 Conspiracy Theories Go Bad
    Resource Type: Article/Report/Letter
    Published: 2002
    Aren#t these conspiracy theories too silly to address? That should be the case. But, sadly, they do attract people.

Experts on Logic in the Sources Directory

1. ibiblio.org