Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Although fallacies have generally been regarded as bad moves in argumentative discourse, there is a lack of agreement on how to react to them in practice. In this paper, we will therefore propose what a discussant should do when being confronted with fallacious argumentation. First, we will examine which perspective one should take on reacting to fallacies. Second, we will present what this means in practice by analyzing reactions to the fallacy of many question -- a fallacy that is particularly interesting in this light, as it is fallacious by virtue of the way in which it tries to trick a discussant into responding to it.

Publication Type: Proceeding

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The increasing interconnectedness of national economies might be associated with rising living standards across the globe, but whether this is at the expense of the welfare of future generations is an intriguing question. Most studies to date on the relationship between economic openness and sustainable development treat countries as isolated entities. They focus on the overall trade exposure and/or foreign direct investments and overlook the fact that through connections of trade and FDI, one country can externalize the impacts of its economic development on sustainability to other countries. The impact could be positive, that is, higher environmental standards and better management of resources spill over to countries with low sustainability and cause what is often referred to as the California Effect. The impact could also be negative when, for instance, some countries import basic resources from (and export waste to) other countries --- one example of the Netherlands Fallacy. We use a network diffusion model to study whether and how countries externalize impacts of its economic development to other countries through networks of international markets, such as trade and FDI. Based on a panel of 135 countries from 1980 to 2000, we model a country’s genuine saving rate, a measure of weak sustainability (de Soysa and Neumayer 2005), as a function of a battery of relevant domestic variables and externalities from its trading partners and investor countries. One of our key findings is an evidence for the Netherlands Fallacy, that is, negative externalities from a country’s trading partners.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Wimsatt and Beardsley’s essay “The Intentional Fallacy” arguably began our current discussion of agency, but the essay itself has been given slight attention in the field of rhetoric. The essay is reexamined to test the strength of what would prove to be the most famous and influential stance against intentionalism offered in the twentieth century. The chief implication is that rhetorical critical attitudes which are informed by the authority of this essay should be reconsidered.

Publication Type: Invited Paper
Abstract: Through somewhat different approaches, Sally Jackson and Scott Jacobs have striven to transform the way we think about fallacies. Whether it’s by seeing them as fallouts from the employment of general heuristic strategies, or misreadings of the hidden dynamics in rhetorical situations, the accounts provided are at odds both with traditional views of the fallacies as well as some contemporary accounts, while addressing some of the problems afflicting those other approaches. In this paper, I review the Jackson and Jacobs positions on fallacies against the backdrop of the tradition and consider whether they provide some of the better explanation for the phenomena they attempt to explain.