The reductive strategies, such as the deductive-nomological (DN) model of explanation, or the Nagel–Schaffner reduction, have been perceived negatively ever since their first applications in historical inquiry. However, the role of the analysis of inter-theory relations, such as the preservation of success and retrospective rationality, has hardly ever received much attention from historians of science. In this paper, I am exploring the applicability of the analysis of inter-theory relations for the rational reconstruction of the development of science. I demonstrate that (...) the historiography of Anneliese Maier is a good example of a few reductive strategies at play in historical inquiry that do not submit to the same criticism that the synchronic reductive analysis of theories is submitted to. (shrink)

This paper analyses what kind of conspiracy theories are generated because of the emergence and spread of diseases. Conspiracy theory narratives that are generated during the different kinds of pandemics – cholera, AIDS and COVID-19 – are described and analysed, with special attention given to COVID-19 conspiracy theories. We raise a conceptual issue for further research indicating that the disease-related conspiracies do not perfectly square with the current psychological interpretations of conspiracy beliefs.