Refutation of Definition

If your opponent offers a nonstandard definition, then there are two things you can do. First you should point out that the definition used is nonstandard. If your audience is annoyed by nonstandard definitions, then engage in a supplementary ad hominem at once.

If mere exposure does not work, then try a second kind of attack. Usually an odd definition is an attempt to make something true by definition. If this is so, then expose your opponent as offering a circular argument or petito principii.

Suppose your opponent is trying to prove the existence of God and offers the following argument:

The Bible is the word of God.
The Bible says that God exists.
_____________________
Therefore, God exists.

The evidence for the existence of God is a set of statements in the Bible. When questioned as to why we should believe the Bible, our opponent argues that (1) God, by definition, is truthful, and (2) the Bible is, by definition, the word of God. Now, even if I accept the first definition there is no reason for accepting the second one. The argument is circular in that it assumes what it is trying to prove. We also say that the argument is begging since it begs (assumes) the very thing it is trying to prove. The whole controversy thus hinges upon the definition.

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