"They will tell us we are un-American. But when conservative fundamentalists tell you that America is a Christian nation, remember what Christianity is: the Holy Spirit, the free egalitarian community of believers united by love. We here are the Holy Spirit, while on Wall Street they are pagans worshipping false idols." -Slavoj Žižek, Liberty Sq. Plaza New York
I really appreciate the rhetoric of this little bit here but it also contains an argument.
1) Christianity is the Holy Spirit
2) The Holy Spirit is a free egalitarian community of believers united by love
3) Occupy Wall Street is a free egalitarian community of believers united by love
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4) Occupy Wall Street is Christianity/Christian
I needed to insert the conclusion here because he sort of steps over it. Unfortunately his argument is invalid.
C is H
H is E
O is E
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O is C
Cats are in the family felidae
All members of the family felidae are mammals
Dogs are mammals
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Dogs are cats
Still a solid piece of rhetoric though:
http://www.versobooks.com/blogs/736-slavoj-zizek-at-occupy-wall-street-we-are-not-dreamers-we-are-the-awakening-from-a-dream-which-is-turning-into-a-nightmare
This is true. I do agree that this is interesting information, but i also agree that the argument is invalid. Unfortunately, the conclusion was not given and therefore, it is difficult to know you have the right conclusion.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you could propose a charitable reconstruction of the argument that would be valid. As for soundness, though, I suspect you will have trouble establishing each of the premises.
ReplyDeleteI have been trying off and on for a few days to construct this as a valid argument without changing his words too much. This is the best I could do:
ReplyDelete- OWS is a free egalitarian community of believers united by love
- Free egalitarian communities of believers united by love make up Christianity
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- OWS is part of Christianity
O is E
E is C
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O is C