CS Lewis has a great aptitude for pointing out problems of our society that have been so closely integrated into the way we conduct our day-to-day business that we no longer notice their detriment. This paper examines a common ill which we all find ourselves falling to when we engage in arguments, eager to emerge the victors: Bulverism.
Bulverism in my own definition would be assuming a person is wrong without proof and proceeding to explain why this is; attacking the person instead of the problem. Too often when we do this we find that instead of discovering as to whether or not the object of discussion is correct or wrong, we are trying to discredit our opponent, and readily assume they are wrong.
Of course the first thing that pops into our minds when considering this phenomenon is politics, as this is kind of reasoning abounds in many political campaigns. The important issues that are apparently going to be solved by the contenders are ignored in order to attempt to discredit the other’s stances with attacks at the antagonist’s psychology. This of course gets us nowhere, because the important issues are discarded and “reason itself is discredited.”
Unfortunately, when employing Bulverism there can be no clear winner in any argument because it is very easy for both parties to use this logic to oppose one another. Lewis describes it as a “democratic game in the sense that all can play it all day long”, however we soon realize that it is actually no help in actually finding out the truth of the issue, or the actual essence of the problem.
Lewis says that in doing this we end up “trying to proof that all proofs are invalid… the proof that all proofs are invalid must be invalid itself.”
In this reading I found that I could especially relate, probably because of my current major, Political science. Lewis’s caution against Bulverism to us is one that I must be very careful to guard against in my pursuit of a career in politics, being careful not to be on the search for a “ ‘taint’ in the human reasoner”, but rather to search for a “genuine insight.”
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Debbie it is very true just like Lewis had stated that bulverism can be readily found in political arguments today. However, like you have also stated it is very easy for all of us to fall in the traps of this vice in our day to day life, especially when we live in an individualistic and self-centered society. It is very important that we check our self and to occasionally "pop" our own balloon of pride like Professor Adrianna Ribiero mentioned.
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