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[[File:Cicero.PNG|thumb|upright|The Roman politician Marcus Tullius Cicero coined the phrase ''Ipse dixit'', "He, himself, said it"]]
[[File:Cicero.PNG|thumb|upright|The Roman politician Marcus Tullius Cicero coined the phrase ''Ipse dixit'', "He, himself, said it"]]


In the field of [[Logic]], the Latin phrase '''''Ipse dixit''''' ("He, himself, said it") is known as '''the bare assertion fallacy''', wherein it identifies and describes a [[Dogma|dogmatic]] statement asserted, but unproved, which the speaker expects the listener to accept—on faith—to be true.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English| editor=Sykes, J.B. |publisher=Clarendon |location=Oxford |edition=7th |year=1982 |isbn=0-19-861131-5 }}</ref> The legal and philosophical principles of ''Ipse dixit'' involve an unproven assertion that the speaker claims is true, and therefore authoritative, because it was uttered by "[[Authority|an authority]]"; for example: "His testimony, that she was a liar, was nothing more than an ''ipse dixit''".<ref name="Black's">{{cite book |editor=Garner, Brian A. |title=Black’s Law Dictionary |edition=7th |place=St. Paul, MN |publisher=West |date=1999 |page=833}}</ref>
'''''Ipse dixit''''' ("He, himself, said it"), also known as the ''' bare assertion fallacy''', is a term which is used to identify and describe a sort of arbitrary [[Dogma|dogmatic]] statement which the speaker expects the listener to accept as valid.<ref>Whitney, William Dwight. (1906). [http://books.google.com/books?id=73tEAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA3179&dq= "''Ipse dixit'',"] ''The Century dictionary and cyclopedia,'' pp. 379-380; Westbrook, Robert B. [http://books.google.com/books?id=0I-9gJN9rbwC&pg=PA359&dq= "John Dewey and American Democracy," p. 359].</ref>

''Ipse dixit'' denies that an issue is debatable. In other words, that's just the way it is.<ref>Sebranek, Patrick ''et al.'' (2011). [http://books.google.com/books?id=fL7_9oMSNm0C&pg=PA173&dq=bare+assertion+fallacy&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mHHGULnmLIS60AHGuICACA&ved=0CEIQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=bare%20assertion%20fallacy&f=false ''Write 1,'' p. 173].</ref> In ''Alice in Wonderland'', the problem of ''ipse dixit'' is explained by example.<ref>Filan, Patrick J. [http://filan-law.com/wp-content/uploads/Reprint_FILAN_111411.pdf "Opinions Must Be Based On Facts: Unlike Humpty Dumpty, witnesses can't make unproven assertion,"] ''Connecticut Law Journal,'' Vol. 37, No. 46 (November 14, 2011) citing ''Through the Looking Glass''; retrieved 2012-12-11.</ref>
<blockquote>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"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."<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"The question is," said Alice, "whether you ''can'' make words mean so many different things."<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master<s>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</s>that's all."<ref>Caroll, Lewis. (2000). [http://books.google.com/books?id=-blJhrfvouUC&pg=PA213&dq= ''The Annotated Alice: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass,'' p. 213].</ref></blockquote>

The most basic way to distort an issue is to deny that it exists.<ref>VanderMey, Randall ''et al.'' (2011). [http://books.google.com/books?id=l7I-ykFAC3cC&pg=PA183&dq=bare+assertion+fallacy&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mHHGULnmLIS60AHGuICACA&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=bare%20assertion%20fallacy&f=false ''Comp,'' p. 183].</ref>



== History ==
== History ==

Revision as of 14:51, 11 December 2012

The Roman politician Marcus Tullius Cicero coined the phrase Ipse dixit, "He, himself, said it"

Ipse dixit ("He, himself, said it"), also known as the bare assertion fallacy, is a term which is used to identify and describe a sort of arbitrary dogmatic statement which the speaker expects the listener to accept as valid.[1]

Ipse dixit denies that an issue is debatable. In other words, that's just the way it is.[2] In Alice in Wonderland, the problem of ipse dixit is explained by example.[3]

    "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."[4]

The most basic way to distort an issue is to deny that it exists.[5]


History

The Roman orator Cicero (106–43 BC) coined the term Ipse dixit in the theological studies De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods).[6] Cicero referred to debates among the students of Pythagoras, who applied the phrase Ipse dixit (He, himself, said it.) as an argument from authority, by Pythagoras, whose intellectual authority the students considered indubitable, even without the support of reason.[7]

In the Middle Ages, scholars applied the ipse dixit term to justify their subject-matter arguments if the arguments previously had been used by the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BC).[8] [full citation needed]

Ipse-dixitism

Jeremy Bentham adapted the term ipse-dixit into the word ipse-dixitism.[9] Benthem coined the term to apply to all non-utilitarian political arguments.[10]

This term ipse dixit has been used in modern legal and administrative decisions, generally as a criticism of arguments based solely upon the authority of a given organization. For example, a 1997 dispute challenged the constitutionality of Indiana’s system of taxing real property. The Indiana Supreme Court held that the system violated the Indiana Constitution, because: "the only standard that is ascertainable is one of ipse-dixitism: 1) value is whatever the State Board’s regulations declare it to be, and 2) the State Board’s regulations can be modified and interpreted in any manner that the State Board wishes".[11] Similarly, a dissenting opinion to a 1976 safety-commission report accuses two commissioners (Barnanko and Cleary) of relying on an unsupported assertion: "The same holds true for the Barnako-Cleary ipse-dixitism—repeated again in this case—concerning the status of an unreviewed Judge's decision. Not once have they ever cited any authority for that assertion".[12]

In a 1997 case, the US Supreme Court recognized the problem of "opinion evidence which is connected to existing data only by the ipse dixit of an expert".[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ Whitney, William Dwight. (1906). "Ipse dixit," The Century dictionary and cyclopedia, pp. 379-380; Westbrook, Robert B. "John Dewey and American Democracy," p. 359.
  2. ^ Sebranek, Patrick et al. (2011). Write 1, p. 173.
  3. ^ Filan, Patrick J. "Opinions Must Be Based On Facts: Unlike Humpty Dumpty, witnesses can't make unproven assertion," Connecticut Law Journal, Vol. 37, No. 46 (November 14, 2011) citing Through the Looking Glass; retrieved 2012-12-11.
  4. ^ Caroll, Lewis. (2000). The Annotated Alice: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass, p. 213.
  5. ^ VanderMey, Randall et al. (2011). Comp, p. 183.
  6. ^ Poliziano, Angelo. (2010). Angelo Poliziano's Lamia: Text, Translation, and Introductory Studies, p. 26; excerpt, "In Cicero's De natura deorum, as well as in other sources, the phrase “Ipse dixit” pointed to the notion that Pythagoras's disciples would use that short phrase as justification for adopting a position: if the master had said it, it was enough for them and there was no need to argue further."
  7. ^ Benthem, Jeremy. (1838). Works of Jeremy Bentham, Vol. 1, Part 2, p. 467; excerpt, "Ipse dixit is an expression that took its rise from the ... the disciples of Pythagoras"
  8. ^ Aristotle for Armchair Theologians
  9. ^ Benthem, Jeremy. (1834). Deontology; or, The science of morality, Vol. 1, p. 323; excerpt, "ipsedixitism ... comes down to us from an antique and high authority, —-it is the principle recognised (so Cicero informs us) by the disciples of Pythagoras. Ipse {he, the master, Pythagoras), ipse dixit, -—he has said it; the master has said that it is so; therefore, say the disciples of the illustrious sage, therefore so it is."
  10. ^ Benthem, Jeremy. (1838). Works of Jeremy Bentham, p. 192; excerpt, "... it is not a mere ipse dixit that will warrant us to give credit for utility to institutions, in which not the least trace of utility is discernible."
  11. ^ Indiana Tax Court Cause No. 49T10-9701-TA-00086, retrieved 2008-02-26
  12. ^ http://www.oshrc.gov/decisions/html_1976/3841.html
  13. ^ Filan, citing General Electric Co. v. Joiner, 522 U.S. 136, 137; 118 S.Ct. 512; 139 L.Ed.2d 508 (1997).
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