more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
There is a seasoned method of turning your opponent's modus ponens into your own modus tollens.
Gist of Idea
Arguers often turn the opponent's modus ponens into their own modus tollens
Source
Trenton Merricks (Propositions [2015], 5.VII)
Book Ref
Merricks,Trenton: 'Propositions' [OUP 2015], p.182
A Reaction
That is, they say 'if he's coming he'll be hear by now, and he's definitely coming', to which you say 'I'm afraid he's not here, so he obviously isn't coming after all'. They say if-A-then-B, and A, so B. You say not-B, so you're wrong about A.
Related Idea
Idea 5395 Demonstration always relies on the rule that anything implied by a truth is true [Russell]
| 3993 | Arguments are nearly always open to challenge, but they help to explain a position rather than force people to believe [Lewis] |
| 20220 | Objection by counterexample is weak, because it only reveals inaccuracies in one theory [Zagzebski] |
| 6856 | Valid arguments can be rejected by challenging the premises or presuppositions [Martin,M] |
| 19215 | Arguers often turn the opponent's modus ponens into their own modus tollens [Merricks] |
| 19504 | My modus ponens might be your modus tollens [Pritchard,D] |
| 23769 | Promoting an ontology by its implied good metaphysic is an 'argument-by-display' [Williams,NE] |
| 19115 | You can 'rebut' an argument's conclusion, or 'undercut' its premises [Antonelli] |
| 18405 | A 'teepee' argument has several mutually supporting planks to it [Cappelen/Dever] |
| 19023 | Slippery slope arguments are challenges to show where a non-arbitrary boundary lies [Vetter] |