Nicolas, Loïc <br/><br/>
Jesuits, Jews, and Freemasons: Rhetorics of conspiracy 

 -  2016.<br/>							 
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<br/><br/> In this paper, I will discuss the conspiracy accusations made against those that have put speech and arguments, Rhetoric and also criticism at the heart of their social practice or teaching; those that some people see as the New Sophists. Three groups, three “powers”, three “forces”, said to be evil and occult, deserve a particular attention: Jesuits, Jews, and Freemasons. These three groups have haunted the political imagination of the last two centuries. And it is indubitable that they still inhabit ours. Notwithstanding their undeniable differences and, sometimes, their reciprocal aversion, we must recognize the closeness of the reproaches made by their respective critics and opponents. Reproaches that have been linked the Great World Conspiracy, and still are. Demonized, they fascinate as much as they disgust. They are laughed at as much as they are feared. Jesuits, Jews, and Freemasons: all are accused to utilize the same weapons of discourse and speech to mystify the simple, credulous, ill-informed, and to lose them in the maze of contradictory judgments; accused to make them users of criticism and doubt.