Rehinge: Dealing with extreme hinge beliefs through cognitive behavioural therapy

Some people are convinced of extraordinary things. There are people who believe that the earth is flat, building their own rockets to prove as much. This is an example of a sometimes harmful phenomenon that I will call extreme beliefs; there are for example racist conspiracy theories that migration is orchestrated by elites, cults committing massacres expecting the apocalypse, and religious fanatics killing in the name of their faith. My principal research questions are: What are these extreme beliefs? and how can and should we deal with them? I will answer them in three stages. In stage 1, I introduce the theoretical framework, hinge epistemology, to answer the first question. In stage 2, I introduce the practical framework, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and connect it to the theoretical framework. In stage 3, application, I argue that CBT can be used to deal with extreme beliefs which answers the second question.As a case study, I will use scepticism about Covid-19 which illustrates the main problem. Given the harmful consequences of extreme beliefs - in the case of Covid-scepticism these go from vaccine hesitancy to violence - it is a pressing question how we should deal with them. The usual epistemic mechanisms that we have to correct mistaken beliefs do not appear to work in the case of extreme beliefs: the evidence that supports the mainstream view is generally available but nevertheless does not make extreme beliefs disappear. Epistemologists have usually been content to only show why such extreme beliefs are irrational or unwarranted, they have treated them like ordinary beliefs. That however seems to have little effect on the people who hold them. Traditional epistemology is epistemologically and practically impotent in the face of extreme beliefs. My innovative solution is to deal with extreme beliefs through hinge epistemology (Wittgenstein, 1969) and CBT (Ellis, 1962).In stage 1, I will explore how Wittgensteinian (1969) hinge epistemology can deepen our understanding of extreme beliefs. There are few epistemological frameworks that explain why or how someone would come to hold extreme beliefs. The central idea behind hinge epistemology is that all epistemic agents must have fundamental presuppositions, hinges, which they cannot justify because hinges are themselves required to justify beliefs. Given this presupposition function, we cannot change our hinges through evidence in the same easy way as we change our ordinary beliefs. I will argue that extreme beliefs are best explained by divergent hinges. This is a novel answer on the nature of extreme beliefs.In stage 2, I will examine how CBT (Ellis, 1962) fits into my account of extreme beliefs. CBT works by treating implicit "irrational beliefs" that cause mental health issues. I hypothesise that they are a type of hinges or flow from hinges. This research will uncover the analogies (and potential disanalogies) between CBT's "irrational beliefs" and hinges to propose a hinge epistemological account of CBT. Until now, CBT has been largely ignored by epistemology, but the inclusion of applied psychological methods should prove highly fruitful.In stage 3, I will show how CBT can deal with extreme beliefs. CBT does not try to dissuade clients from their "irrational beliefs" in the way that an epistemologist would usually try to, given that counter-evidence does not work. Changing hinges, be they everyday hinges, "irrational beliefs", or extreme beliefs is not a simple matter of updating your beliefs to conform with the evidence. Instead of simply furnishing counterevidence, therapists of different schools have developed a battery of methods to help their clients to snap out of their "irrational beliefs". I will examine whether and how these techniques may help us to deal with extreme (hinge) beliefs.