Humpty Dumpty
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[edit] Definition
Humpty Dumpty arguments are a form of informal logical fallacy where a word is used with a sense wildly at variance with its broadly accepted meaning. Humpty Dumpty arguments involve the frequent use of equivocation elaborately justified by emotional appeal, the argument from popularity, the argument from authority, and other fallacies.
The name derives from a famous passage from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass as discussed below.
[edit] Example
- Antagonist: Science says that energy can never be destroyed, therefore the soul must live on.
- Protagonist: That's not how the term "energy" is used in science. It doesn't mean a soul.
- Antagonist: How dare you say that your egomaniacal, patriarchal, phallocentric, elitist, undemocratic, scientistic science owns the word "energy"! Scientists aren't lexicographers. They know nothing of philosophy. Prescriptive grammar is a thing of the past. We, the socially conscious, right-thinking, oppressed peoples have a right to take back our language, and you with your microscopes and your pathetic hegemony of reductionism can't stop us! You use your energy to rape the Earth and kill, kill, kill, with your atomic bombs, while we use our energy to heal.
[edit] Quotations
- '...There's glory for you!'
- `I don't know what you mean by "glory",' Alice said.
- Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. `Of course you don't -- till I tell you. I meant "there's a nice knock-down argument for you!"'
- `But "glory" doesn't mean "a nice knock-down argument",' Alice objected.
- `When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, `it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.'
- `The question is,' said Alice, `whether you can make words mean so many different things.'
- `The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, `which is to be master -- that's all.'
- Alice was too much puzzled to say anything; so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. `They've a temper, some of them -- particularly verbs: they're the proudest -- adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs -- however, I can manage the whole lot of them! Impenetrability! That's what I say!'
- `Would you tell me please,' said Alice, `what that means?'
- `Now you talk like a reasonable child,' said Humpty Dumpty, looking very much pleased. `I meant by "impenetrability" that we've had enough of that subject, and it would be just as well if you'd mention what you mean to do next, as I suppose you don't mean to stop here all the rest of your life.'
- `That's a great deal to make one word mean,' Alice said in a thoughtful tone.
- `When I make a word do a lot of work like that,' said Humpty Dumpty, `I always pay it extra.'
- `Oh!' said Alice. She was too much puzzled to make any other remark.
- `Ah, you should see 'em come round me of a Saturday night,' Humpty Dumpty went on, wagging his head gravely from side to side, `for to get their wages, you know.'
- (Alice didn't venture to ask what he paid them with; and so you see I ca'n't tell you.)
- Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass
[edit] Discussion
Humpty Dumpty arguments are named after this passage by Lewis Carroll. The two key metaphors are as follows:
- `When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, `it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.'
- `The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, `which is to be master -- that's all.'
This indicates that the argument is based on equivocation but also involves scorn and mastership. In practice, it is elaborate play on the notion of mastership that gives the argument its force.
Typically, mastership is not presented individually but in terms of group ownership. Humpty Dumpty arguments are common in political and social commentaries that pit one group against another. They were common in Marxist critiques during the 1960s and in Feminist critiques during the 1970s and 1980s. Humpty Dumpty arguments continue to flourish in postmodernism and politics.
[edit] Exceptions to the Rule
Many good jokes put Humpty Dumpty reasoning on display, including the original Lewis Carroll passage.
It may also be rhetorially useful in a context where words can be expected to be redefined, and the notion of definition itself is a part of the discussion, to explicitly redefine words in such a way as to avoid standard connotative associations.
[edit] Related Links
[edit] Further Reading
The following works contain many examples of Humpty Dumpty arguments:
- Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism by Mary Daly (ISBN 0807014133)
- The Demon Lover: The Roots of Terrorism by Robin Morgan (ISBN 0743452933)
(Could use some more links, but I have most experience of this kind of argument in Feminism epepke)
