Location
Room 3
Document Type
Paper
Keywords
Fallacy, Walton, flaw, dialogue, serious, fallacious argument
Start Date
4-6-2020 9:00 AM
End Date
4-6-2020 10:00 AM
Abstract
Among the defining criteria of a fallacy, Douglas Walton requires that its flaw must be serious. This allows his distinction between “serious” fallacies, minor ones, or mere blunders. But what makes a fallacy serious? Isn’t being fallacious serious enough? Walton leaves these questions unanswered but often calls to his distinction between sophism and paralogism. Several ways to apply the adjective “serious” to fallacies are discussed. Some depend on the type, others on structural aspects, and others on a dialectical background.
Reader's Reactions
Hans Vilhelm Hansen, Commentary on Michel Dufour’s “What Makes A Fallacy Serious?” (June 2020)
Included in
What Makes a Fallacy Serious?
Room 3
Among the defining criteria of a fallacy, Douglas Walton requires that its flaw must be serious. This allows his distinction between “serious” fallacies, minor ones, or mere blunders. But what makes a fallacy serious? Isn’t being fallacious serious enough? Walton leaves these questions unanswered but often calls to his distinction between sophism and paralogism. Several ways to apply the adjective “serious” to fallacies are discussed. Some depend on the type, others on structural aspects, and others on a dialectical background.
