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A Public Lecture by Conspiracy & Democracy Visiting Fellow Professor Cornel Zwierlein (Ruhr-Universität Bochum). 

It seems as if Conspiracy Theories are a particularly modern phenomenon. By relying on some examples and cases, this lecture gives a long-term overview of what they looked like and when they appeared. We possess full-fledged conspiracy theory texts only since the 16th century. While examples may have existed already in Antiquity, we do not possess any textual evidence for them. The lecture tries to develop an explanation for why conspiracy theories emerged only at this point in European history. In order to do so, it is necessary to distinguish between conjurations, any kind of revolts, conspiracies and conspiracy theories. We will show how their coming into being is linked to the emergence of the ‘Information Public Sphere’, as a by-product of the early inter-state diplomatic communication (which has, first, little to do with the later famous ‘Enlightenment Public Sphere’), and how those narratives filled in where knowledge gaps existed. In a hasty run through history, we will distinguish several phases or ‘epochs’ of Conspiracy (theory) communication. Finally, we will ask how Democracy comes in: ‘Real’ democracies were practiced rather nowhere after Ancient Europe, and were rare even during the 19th century. So, in pre-modern times, often it was ‘democracy’ or ‘democrats’ that were ‘conspiring’ against the good order of the commonwealth – not vice versa.

Cornel Zwierlein is Associate Professor at the University of Bochum, Germany. Currently, he is on leave as a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University. His research focuses on the intersection of political, religious and scientific knowledge. Cornel is the author of ‘Discorso und Lex Dei die Entstehung neuer Denkrahmen im 16. Jahrhundert und die Wahrnehmung der französischen Religionskriege in Italien und Deutschland’ (Göttingen, 2006), and, more recently, ‘Der gezähmte Prometheus. Feuer und Sicherheit zwischen Früher Neuzeit und Moderne’ (Göttingen, 2011). 

The Early Modern Foundations of Conspiracy & Democracy

Elizabeth Cropper, dean, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art. Ten years after completing his work The Last Communion of Saint Jerome, Bolognese painter Domenichino Zampieri was accused by his rival Giovanni Lanfranco of stealing the idea for the painting from an altarpiece crafted by Lanfranco’s teacher, Agostino Carracci. The resulting scandal reverberated through the centuries, drawing responses by artists and critics from Poussin and Malvasia to Fuseli and Delacroix. Why was Domenichino attacked in this way when other related paintings—including Raphael’s Marriage of the Virgin and Perugino’s painting of the same subject—aroused no such negative response? In this lecture recorded on December 11, 2005 at the National Gallery of Art, Elizabeth Cropper presents her latest book, which investigates the Domenichino affair and addresses the perennial debate regarding the precise nature of originality and imitation. Cropper offers a detailed analysis of attitudes toward imitation, emulation, and plagiarism, and a fascinating discussion of what Domenichino’s plight signifies in art history.

The Domenichino Affair: Novelty, Imitation, and Theft in Seventeenth-Century Rome

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The Seminar series brings together different perspectives and new thinking on the relationship between scientific expertise, policy and politics.
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Nick Pearce - Political leadership and public administration in a post-democratic and populist age

Speaker Series with Robin Sproul, vice president and Washington Bureau Chief, ABC News.

Robin Sproul: Reporting the News in a Shifting Media Landscape | Shorenstein Center

In the third part of our acclaimed "Dating" series, we take a look at the "seduction community" and strange process in which some people try to woo members of the opposite sex. We also talk about chivalry in modern times, and cover "the bases" for those not in the know. 

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Mike Gomez 26