The Effect of Imprecise Expressions in Argumentation-Theory and Experimental Results

Summary, in English

We investigate argumentation where an expression is substituted with a less precise expression. We propose that the effect that this deprecization has on the audience be called deprecization effect. When the audience agrees more with the less precise version of the argument, there is a positive deprecization effect. We conducted an experiment where the participants were presented with a court room scenario. The results of the experiment confirm the following hypothesis: If the participants find it hard to agree with the precise version of the argument and accept the use of the imprecise term, they will agree more with the imprecise version of the argument. Furthermore, we show that a person who reacts in this way to deprecization commits the fallacy of equivocation.

• Författare: Christian Dahlman; Farhan Sarwar; Rasmus Bååth; Lena Wahlberg; Sverker Sikström
• Avdelning/ar: Law, Evidence and Cognition (LEVIC); Juridiska institutionen; Institutionen för psykologi; Kognitionsvetenskap
• Publiceringsår: 2012
• Språk: Engelska
• Sidor: 15-30
• Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie: ARGUMENTATION 2012: International Conference on Alternative Methods of Argumentation in Law
• Dokumenttyp: Konferensbidrag
• Förlag: Masaryk University
• Ämne: Philosophy; General Language Studies and Linguistics
• Nyckelord: Deprecization; vagueness; ambiguity; fallacy of equivocation; experimental philosophy
• Conference name: 2nd International Conference on Alternative Methods of Argumentation in Law (ARGUMENTATION 2012)
• Conference date: 2012-10-26
• Conference place: Brno, Czech Republic
• Status: Published
• Projekt: Law, Evidence and Cognition
• Forskningsgrupp: Law, Evidence and Cognition (LEVIC)
• ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt: ISBN: 978-80-210-5948-1