Lee Basham (Ph.D. Philosophy) is a professor of philosophy at South Texas College and the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley, USA. Basham explores the epistemology of cultural, political and economic conspiracy theories within Western-style democracies, as well as related academic, mass-media and political responses to allegations of conspiratorial deception and manipulation. He also collaborates in empirical research on the rational and non-rational aspects of conspiracy cognition and explanation. Basham has published a number of papers on the subject of organized deception, including: “Living With the Conspiracy”, Philosophical Forum, Fall 2002; “Why God Lied to Me: Salvationist Theism and Justice”, Journal of Religious Ethics, Summer, 2002; “Challenge of Conspiracy”, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Association, 2002; “Malevolent Global Conspiracy”, Journal of Social Philosophy, Spring 2003; “Conspiracy Theory, Ubiquity and Resilience” in Conspiracy Theory, The Philosophical Debate, Coady, David (ed.), Ashgate, 2006; “Conspiracy Theory and Rationality”, 2011, in Beyond Reason, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Rom Harre (ed.), “Joining the Conspiracy”, 2017, Argumenta, “Conspiracy Theory Phobia” (with Juha Räikkä) forthcoming in Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them, Uscinski, Joseph and Parent, Joe, eds., Oxford University Press. Basham teaches philosophy at South Texas College and the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley.