Bulverism¶
Lewis, C. S. (1970). Bulverism: or, The Foundation of 20th Century Thought. God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics.
Cited by¶
2 citations across 2 artifacts.
Each citation links to the sentence it supports in the citing article.
Domain-specific¶
- Bulverism
- Bulverism is C. S. Lewis's 1941 name — coined via the invented character Ezekiel Bulver — for the rhetorical move of assuming an opponent's conclusion is wrong and then explaining the psychological, sociological, or biographical cause of their error, substituting the genetic explanation for the logical evaluation that was owed.
This sourceThe essay that coins Ezekiel Bulver and states the move — assume your opponent is wrong, then explain his error. Lewis's essay notes that the Freudian and the Marxian are 'in the same boat' as those they explain away; the text checked does not state the claim that this shows the explanation is rhetorical rather than logical. The Bulver origin story for the term, in the essay collected in God in the Dock. Lewis's anecdote of the boy Bulver hearing, over a dispute whether two sides of a triangle exceed the third, 'you say that because you are a man'. C. S. Lewis’s Bulverism passage: assume your opponent is wrong, explain his error, and the world is at your feet; prove him wrong or ask whether he is right, and the national dynamism of the age thrusts you to the wall. Lewis's naming of the Freudian and Marxian explanatory styles as the archetypes of the move.
Supported in partVerified against a saved copy of the source
“write the biography of its imaginary inventor, Ezekiel Bulver, whose destiny was determined at the age of”
- Bulverism is C. S. Lewis's 1941 name — coined via the invented character Ezekiel Bulver — for the rhetorical move of assuming an opponent's conclusion is wrong and then explaining the psychological, sociological, or biographical cause of their error, substituting the genetic explanation for the logical evaluation that was owed.
- Genetic Fallacy
- Person-source attacks: Ad Hominem substitutes facts about the speaker for examination of the claim. Psychological or sociological origins: Bulverism assumes falsity and explains why the holder came to believe the claim
This sourceLewis's essay is the source of both the term and the definition given here - assume without discussion that the man is wrong, then busily explain how he came to be so.
SupportedVerified against the source
- Person-source attacks: Ad Hominem substitutes facts about the speaker for examination of the claim. Psychological or sociological origins: Bulverism assumes falsity and explains why the holder came to believe the claim
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