Quodlibet
Rhetorical Dodgers
by S. M. Hutchens
Reading a recent attempt of one of Rod Dreher's many detractors to discredit The Benedict Option, it occurred to me that one of the favorite tricks of rhetorical dodgers (typically in the attempt to influence bad thinkers who think they're good ones) is putting forward the notion that "the matter at hand is complex; therefore my opponent's position is wrong because it's simplistic, and I am both cleverer and righter because I take more into account."
An argument, however, is not right or wrong because it covers more or less ground (all ground is infinite)—it is right or wrong for taking, or failing to take, the proper measure of reality. This underlies the Lord's commentaries on the mind of the child, the lesson of "The Emperor's New Clothes," Doctor Johnson's refutation of Bishop Berkeley (as he understood him), and the corollary of St. Ambrose, "God did not see fit to save his people by philosophy."
S. M. Hutchens is a senior editor and longtime writer for Touchstone.
subscription options
Order
Print/Online Subscription
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Order
Online Only
Subscription
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more from the online archives
35.4—Jul/Aug 2022
The Death Rattle of a Tradition
Contemporary Catholic Thinking on the Question of War by Andrew Latham
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
