The Argument of the Beard

Authors

  • Douglas Walton

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22329/il.v18i2.2382

Keywords:

argument of the beard, argument of the heap, bald man argument, sorites, slippery slope, black-or-white fallacy, continuum, assimilation, vagueness

Abstract

The essence of the argument of the beard (so-called by some logic textbooks) is the tactic used by a respondent to reply to a proponent, "The criterion you used to define a key term in your argument is vague, therefore your use of this term in your argument is illegitimate, and your argument is refuted." This familiar kind of argument tactic is similar to the much more famous heap (sorites) argument of Eubulides, closely associated with the slippery slope argument. This article provides a system of classification for sorting out these three arguments, and related types of argument of interest in informal logic.

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Published

1996-01-01

Issue

Vol. 18 No. 2 (1996)

Section

Articles

License

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