Overview

This book revisits Paul Ricoeur’s classification of Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud as the “masters of suspicion”, and provides a thought-provoking critique for critical religious studies scholars, as well as anyone working in critical theory more broadly. Whereas Ricoeur saw suspicion as a mode of interpretation, Andrew Dole argues that the method common to his “masters” is better understood as a mode of explanation. Dole replaces Ricoeur’s hermeneutics of suspicion with suspicious explanation, which claims the existence of hidden phenomena that are bad in some recognizable way. Each of the masters, Dole argues, offered a distinct kind of suspicious explanation. Reconstructing Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud in this way brings their work into conversation with conspiracy theories, which are themselves a type of suspicious explanation. Dole argues that conspiracy theories and other types of suspicious explanation are “cognitively ensnaring”, to borrow a term from Pascal Boyer. If they are true they are importantly true, but their truth or falsity can be very difficult to ascertain.

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9781350170063

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Reviews

"Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud have shined a light on the roles of hidden motives, unacknowledged dispositions, and repressed desires in human behavior, and the critical study of religion today would not be possible without their contributions. In this important and jargon-free book, Andrew Dole provides an incisive rereading of the “suspicious explanation” that runs as a common thread running through historical materialism, genealogy, and psychoanalysis. Dole is among the sharpest scholars using philosophical tools to improve the academic study of religions, and his new book offers an original account that will reframe the three masters of suspicion in contemporary terms. * Kevin Schilbrack, Professor of Religious Studies, Appalachian State University, USA * Dole’s book provides a theoretical basis for understanding claims about causation and social actors. He unpacks the way that three of the most important social theorists employ suspicion as a way to explain broad social contexts. In doing so, he demonstrates the resonance of their suspicion-based interpretations—their hermeneutics of suspicion—with more contemporary conspiratorial thinking. In providing a genealogy for suspicious interpretations, Dole does a service to scholars researching conspiratorial belief today. * Benjamin E. Zeller, Associate Professor of Religion, Lake Forest College, USA * This fascinating study reconsiders the contribution of Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud to modern intellectual currents by shifting attention from their substantive research fields to their practice of explaining large-scale social and historical phenomena through recourse to hidden agents, resulting in what Andrew Dole terms ""suspicious"" explanations. This is an original study that forges likes between three distinct fields to create new knowledge. * Carole M. Cusack, Professor of Religious Studies, the University of Sydney, Australia * Conspiracy theories can be seen as a popularised version of critical theory, and Reframing the Masters of Suspicion applies this perspective to some of the foundational figures of the field. Critical theory has much to tell us about conspiracy theories, but this timely book challenges scholars to consider what conspiracy theories might say about our theoretical toolbox. * David Robertson, Lecturer in Religious Studies, The Open University, UK *"

Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud have shined a light on the roles of hidden motives, unacknowledged dispositions, and repressed desires in human behavior, and the critical study of religion today would not be possible without their contributions. In this important and jargon-free book, Andrew Dole provides an incisive rereading of the suspicious explanation that runs as a common thread running through historical materialism, genealogy, and psychoanalysis. Dole is among the sharpest scholars using philosophical tools to improve the academic study of religions, and his new book offers an original account that will reframe the three masters of suspicion in contemporary terms. * Kevin Schilbrack, Professor of Religious Studies, Appalachian State University, USA * Dole's book provides a theoretical basis for understanding claims about causation and social actors. He unpacks the way that three of the most important social theorists employ suspicion as a way to explain broad social contexts. In doing so, he demonstrates the resonance of their suspicion-based interpretations-their hermeneutics of suspicion-with more contemporary conspiratorial thinking. In providing a genealogy for suspicious interpretations, Dole does a service to scholars researching conspiratorial belief today. * Benjamin E. Zeller, Associate Professor of Religion, Lake Forest College, USA * This fascinating study reconsiders the contribution of Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud to modern intellectual currents by shifting attention from their substantive research fields to their practice of explaining large-scale social and historical phenomena through recourse to hidden agents, resulting in what Andrew Dole terms suspicious explanations. This is an original study that forges likes between three distinct fields to create new knowledge. * Carole M. Cusack, Professor of Religious Studies, the University of Sydney, Australia * Conspiracy theories can be seen as a popularised version of critical theory, and Reframing the Masters of Suspicion applies this perspective to some of the foundational figures of the field. Critical theory has much to tell us about conspiracy theories, but this timely book challenges scholars to consider what conspiracy theories might say about our theoretical toolbox. * David Robertson, Lecturer in Religious Studies, The Open University, UK *

Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud have shined a light on the roles of hidden motives, unacknowledged dispositions, and repressed desires in human behavior, and the critical study of religion today would not be possible without their contributions. In this important and jargon-free book, Andrew Dole provides an incisive rereading of the “suspicious explanation” that runs as a common thread running through historical materialism, genealogy, and psychoanalysis. Dole is among the sharpest scholars using philosophical tools to improve the academic study of religions, and his new book offers an original account that will reframe the three masters of suspicion in contemporary terms. * Kevin Schilbrack, Professor of Religious Studies, Appalachian State University, USA * Dole’s book provides a theoretical basis for understanding claims about causation and social actors. He unpacks the way that three of the most important social theorists employ suspicion as a way to explain broad social contexts. In doing so, he demonstrates the resonance of their suspicion-based interpretations—their hermeneutics of suspicion—with more contemporary conspiratorial thinking. In providing a genealogy for suspicious interpretations, Dole does a service to scholars researching conspiratorial belief today. * Benjamin E. Zeller, Associate Professor of Religion, Lake Forest College, USA * This fascinating study reconsiders the contribution of Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud to modern intellectual currents by shifting attention from their substantive research fields to their practice of explaining large-scale social and historical phenomena through recourse to hidden agents, resulting in what Andrew Dole terms ""suspicious"" explanations. This is an original study that forges likes between three distinct fields to create new knowledge. * Carole M. Cusack, Professor of Religious Studies, the University of Sydney, Australia * Conspiracy theories can be seen as a popularised version of critical theory, and Reframing the Masters of Suspicion applies this perspective to some of the foundational figures of the field. Critical theory has much to tell us about conspiracy theories, but this timely book challenges scholars to consider what conspiracy theories might say about our theoretical toolbox. * David Robertson, Lecturer in Religious Studies, The Open University, UK *

Author Information

Andrew Dole is a Professor of Religion at Amherst College, USA.

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