Difference between revisions of "Bulverism"
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[[Image:Jhcfju6.jpg|right|thumb|200px|[[C. S. Lewis]], photographed in 1947.]] | [[Image:Jhcfju6.jpg|right|thumb|200px|[[C. S. Lewis]], photographed in 1947.]] | ||
| − | '''Bulverism''', as described by C.S. Lewis, "is a | + | '''Bulverism''', as described by [[C.S. Lewis]], "is a [[rhetoric]]al fallacy where someone assumes an opponent's argument is wrong because of their motives, biases, or psychological state, rather than engaging with the substance of the argument itself. In his essay "Bulverism," Lewis explains it as dismissing an argument by saying, "You only believe that because..."—focusing on why someone holds a view (e.g., their upbringing, emotions, or agenda) instead of addressing the argument’s [[logic]] or [[evidence]]."<ref>[https://grok.com/share/c2hhcmQtNA%3D%3D_9c117c40-7c97-4b92-b25f-3cc9b40b1dec What is bulverism as described by C.S. Lewis?]</ref> |
== Fictional character Ezekiel Bulver == | == Fictional character Ezekiel Bulver == | ||
| − | Ezekiel Bulver is a fictional character created by | + | Ezekiel Bulver is a fictional character created by C. S. Lewis and is the inventor and patron saint of "Bulverism", the practice of assuming someone is wrong (even if he's not) and speculating endlessly on what made him go wrong. |
<blockquote> | <blockquote> | ||
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== External links == | == External links == | ||
| − | *[https://www.orcuttchristian.org/Lewis%20CS%20-%20God_in_the_Dock.pdf Bulerism] | + | *[https://archive.ph/87SzV Bulverism], Essay by Christian author [[C.S. Lewis]] |
| + | *[https://www.orcuttchristian.org/Lewis%20CS%20-%20God_in_the_Dock.pdf Bulerism], C.S. Lewis essay from the book God in the Dock | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
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[[Category:Logical Fallacies| ]] | [[Category:Logical Fallacies| ]] | ||
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bulver, Ezekiel}} | {{DEFAULTSORT:Bulver, Ezekiel}} | ||
[[Category:Literary Figures]] | [[Category:Literary Figures]] | ||
Latest revision as of 23:57, October 3, 2025
Bulverism, as described by C.S. Lewis, "is a rhetorical fallacy where someone assumes an opponent's argument is wrong because of their motives, biases, or psychological state, rather than engaging with the substance of the argument itself. In his essay "Bulverism," Lewis explains it as dismissing an argument by saying, "You only believe that because..."—focusing on why someone holds a view (e.g., their upbringing, emotions, or agenda) instead of addressing the argument’s logic or evidence."[1]
Fictional character Ezekiel Bulver
Ezekiel Bulver is a fictional character created by C. S. Lewis and is the inventor and patron saint of "Bulverism", the practice of assuming someone is wrong (even if he's not) and speculating endlessly on what made him go wrong.
In the course of the last fifteen years I have found this vice so common that I have had to invent a name for it. I call it “Bulverism.” Some day I am going the write the biography of its imaginary inventor, Ezekiel Bulver, whose destiny was determined at the age of five when he heard his mother say to his father - who had been maintaining that two sides of a triangle were together greater than the third - “Oh, you say that because you are a man.” “At that moment,” E. Bulver assures us, “there flashed across my opening mind the great truth that refutation is no necessary part of argument. Assume your opponent is wrong, and then explain his error, and the world will be at your feet. Attempt to prove that he is wrong or (worse still) try to find out whether he is wrong or right, and the national dynamism of our age will thrust you to the wall.” That is how Bulver became one of the makers of the Twentieth Century.
See also
External links
- Bulverism, Essay by Christian author C.S. Lewis
- Bulerism, C.S. Lewis essay from the book God in the Dock