Sophisms and contempt for autonomy
| dc.contributor.author | Stevens, Katharina | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-10-20T21:39:19Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-10-20T21:39:19Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024 | |
| dc.description | Accepted author manuscript | |
| dc.description.abstract | Argumentation theory tends to treat the distinction between intentional and unin- tentional fallacies—sophisms and paralogisms—as unimportant for the evaluation of argumentation. The article author believes this is so because argumentation the- ory tends to be focused on the epistemic functions of argumentation and fallacious arguments pose the same threat to the production of epistemic goods whether they are intentional or not, so the distinction is not needed for the epistemic evalua- tion of argumentation. This article argues that argumentation has a special connec- tion to respect for autonomy, one that enables it to also produce distinctly moral goods. Sophisms, but not paralogisms, spoil these goods. Worse—sophisms produce potentially continuing moral harms, while paralogisms do not. Therefore, the paralogism/sophism distinction should be reintegrated into argumentation theory's evaluative toolbox. duce potentially continuing moral harms, while paralogisms do not. Therefore, the paralogism/sophism distinction should be reintegrated into argumentation theory’s | |
| dc.description.peer-review | Yes | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Stevens, K. (2024). Sophisms and contempt for autonomy. Philosophy & Rhetoric, 57(3), 333-346. https://doi.org/10.5325/philrhet.57.3.0333 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10133/7185 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | Penn State University Press | |
| dc.publisher.department | Department of Philosophy | |
| dc.publisher.faculty | Arts and Science | |
| dc.publisher.institution | University of Lethbridge | |
| dc.publisher.url | https://doi.org/10.5325/philrhet.57.3.0333 | |
| dc.subject | Fallacy | |
| dc.subject | Sophism | |
| dc.subject | Paralogism | |
| dc.subject | Ethics of argumentation | |
| dc.subject | Autonomy | |
| dc.subject | Argumentation | |
| dc.title | Sophisms and contempt for autonomy | |
| dc.type | Article |