Self-Fulfilling Argument

David Fleming
0 Comment

An argument which increases the likelihood—or even guarantees—that the case it is making will turn out to be right. Examples: “It is too late: we can do nothing.” “You will fail.” “Our relationship is in trouble.” “We are going to be okay.”

Self-fulfilling truth could be considered a sixth kind of truth; an argument against (inconclusive) is that it is already there in performative truth.

 

Related entries:

Grim Reality, Self-Denying Truth.

« Back to List of Entries
David Fleming
Dr David Fleming (2 January 1940 – 29 November 2010) was a cultural historian and economist, based in London, England. He was among the first to reveal the possibility of peak oil's approach and invented the influential TEQs scheme, designed to address this and climate change. He was also a pioneer of post-growth economics, and a significant figure in the development of the UK Green Party, the Transition Towns movement and the New Economics Foundation, as well as a Chairman of the Soil Association. His wide-ranging independent analysis culminated in two critically acclaimed books, 'Lean Logic' and 'Surviving the Future', published posthumously in 2016. These in turn inspired the 2020 launches of both BAFTA-winning director Peter Armstrong's feature film about Fleming's perspective and legacy - 'The Sequel: What Will Follow Our Troubled Civilisation?' - and Sterling College's unique 'Surviving the Future: Conversations for Our Time' online courses. For more information on all of the above, including Lean Logic, click the little globe below!

Comment on this entry: