{"id":13667,"date":"2025-03-16T07:17:21","date_gmt":"2025-03-16T06:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/?p=13667"},"modified":"2025-10-17T08:50:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T06:50:20","slug":"reflexivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/reflexivity\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflexivity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Argument of<\/span> REFLEXIVITY<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Consider a proposition of the form: \u00ab\u00a0N 1 \u2014 Verb \u2014 N2\u00a0\u00bb<\/strong>. The relation denoted by the verb is reflexive if it connects N1<\/strong> to itself, that is, if \u00ab\u00a0N1 \u2014 Verb \u2014 N1″<\/strong> makes sense.<\/p>\n

\u201cI<\/em>s contemporary with <\/i>\u201d is a reflexive relation; A<\/b> is contemporary with all the people who live at the same time as he, and in particular he is strictly contemporary with himself.<\/p>\n

The causal relation<\/b> is not reflexive; no being<\/b> is its own cause. Only God is causa sui<\/i>, his own cause – though it is possible to be a son of one’s own works<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Reflexivity can be exploited in ad hominem<\/i><\/a> argumentation. The principle \u201ccharity begins at home<\/i>\u201d forces the reflexivity of the relationship \u00ab\u00a0to do charity to\u00a0\u00bb<\/i>. Similarly, love of others <\/i>can be used to promote a certain love of self<\/i>:<\/p>\n

If you want to help the whole world, you’d do well to start by helping yourself a little!<\/p>\n

A consultant’s competence can be challenged by encouraging him to use his talents\u00a0 reflectively:<\/p>\n

You give me advice and you act the old way, start by giving yourself advice!<\/p>\n

You fight for women’s liberation, and (= but) at home you never do the dishes.<\/p>\n

Doctor, heal yourself!<\/p>\n

You claim to teach others how to argue, but you are incapable of arguing yourself!<\/p>\n

Or again:<\/p>\n

Among the ragged people, there are some who wear long robes,<\/span>
\nand boast that they are masters in the art of transmuting metals.<\/span>
\nWhy don’t these people make a little gold for themselves?<\/span>
\nBecause their whole art is to sell a little clear water to gullible people.<\/span>
\nThe Alchemists. Six Chinese Short Stories<\/i>. [1885] \/ 1999 [1]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Argument of REFLEXIVITY Consider a proposition of the form: \u00ab\u00a0N 1 \u2014 Verb \u2014 N2\u00a0\u00bb. The relation denoted by the verb is reflexive if it connects N1 to itself, that is, if \u00ab\u00a0N1 \u2014 Verb \u2014 N1″ makes sense. \u201cIs contemporary with \u201d is a reflexive relation; A is contemporary with all the people who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dictionary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13667"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14261,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13667\/revisions\/14261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}