Location
University of Windsor
Document Type
Paper
Keywords
democracy, economic fallacies, fallacy of composition, logical theory, meta-argumentation, oligarchy, parts vs. whole, Robert Dahl, Robert Michels, Seymour Martin Lipset
Start Date
22-5-2013 9:00 AM
End Date
25-5-2013 5:00 PM
Abstract
Although the fallacy of composition is little studied and trivially illustrated, some view it as ubiquitous and paramount. Furthermore, although definitions regard the concept as unproblematic, it contains three distinct elements, often confused. And although some scholars apparently claim that fallacies are figments of a critic’s imagination, they are really proposing to study fallacies in the context of meta-argumentation. Guided by these ideas, I discuss the important historical example of Michels’s iron law of oligarchy.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Response to Submission
Michel Dufour, Commentary on: Maurice Finocchiaro's "The fallacy of composition and meta-argumentation"
Reader's Reactions
Michel Dufour, Commentary on: Maurice Finocchiaro's "The fallacy of composition and meta-argumentation" (May 2013)
Included in
The fallacy of composition and meta-argumentation
University of Windsor
Although the fallacy of composition is little studied and trivially illustrated, some view it as ubiquitous and paramount. Furthermore, although definitions regard the concept as unproblematic, it contains three distinct elements, often confused. And although some scholars apparently claim that fallacies are figments of a critic’s imagination, they are really proposing to study fallacies in the context of meta-argumentation. Guided by these ideas, I discuss the important historical example of Michels’s iron law of oligarchy.
