Deliberation and the Extraordinary: The mobilization of fear and hope in divination and conspiracy theories

Divination and conspiracy theories are societal phenomena that share at least two features: they both seek out explanations for a peculiar state of the world and perplex most members of our modern occidental societies. In this paper, we will explore these phenomena through the glance of rhetorical deliberation, with a particular focus on the impact of fear and hope on the process. Doing so, we hope to achieve a better understanding of the deliberative genre, especially for what concerns the role of the emotions of fear and hope in persuasion.