From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Wed Oct 23 2002 - 18:57:42 MDT
Steve Davies writes
> To be really pedantic (but also precise) for a moment - I think the original
> poster should have had "why anarcho-capitalism is a contradiction in terms".
> *Not* the same thing as an oxymoron! Thinking of it that way also makes it
> easier to see what the argument is about, i.e. it's about the definition of
> the two constituent terms "anarchy" and "capitalism". Either or both of
> these can be defined in a way that makes their conjunction a CIT but if so
> you should be explicit and honest that that's what you're doing.
Doubtless; but it's also news to me that the claim is imprecise.
Now dictionary.com supplies
ox·y·mo·ron Pronunciation Key (ks-môrn, -mr-)
n. pl. ox·y·mo·ra (-môr, -mr) or ox·y·mo·rons
A rhetorical figure in which incongruous or
contradictory terms are combined, as in a
"deafening silence" and a "mournful optimist".
[Greek oxumron, from neuter of oxumros, pointedly
foolish: oxus, sharp; see oxygen + mros, foolish, dull.]
Would you mind explaining exactly why "anarcho-capitalism"
is *not* an oxymoron given that the original poster believed
it to be a contradiction in terms?
Thanks,
Lee
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:17:44 MST