SWMA Posted September 25, 2015 Posted September 25, 2015 Hello everyone, I remember reading an article that was linked I think in this forum quite a while back. It was an explanation of the concept [blank], a nice (I think french) word for the principle that someone's argument self-defeats if it both relies on X and the person has themselves shown to disregard X through his actions.One example was someone who uses force to rob someone - he can then not claim that force against him would be immoral since he has already chosen to accept force as legitimate means. I looked for quite a bit but I simply cannot find it any more. Anyone know? cheers,SWMA
Guest Gee Posted October 7, 2015 Posted October 7, 2015 A performative contradiction? A performative contradiction (German: performativer Widerspruch) arises when the propositional content of a statement contradicts the presuppositions of asserting it. An example of a performative contradiction is the statement "I am dead" because the very act of proposing it presupposes the actor is alive.
dsayers Posted October 7, 2015 Posted October 7, 2015 Performative contradiction or self-detonating claim. If you're looking for a French sounding word, tautology (circular reasoning) is the closest I can think of.
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