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Distinguo: The response to equivocation

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Logical guarantees of validity must be understood as subject to the proviso that no equivocation is committed. But we do not have a formal theory of equivocation. This paper attempts to formulate rules for responding to equivocal arguments in the context of dialogue. What occurs when one distinguishes meanings of an equivocal expression turns out to be rather different from definition.

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Mackenzie, J. Distinguo: The response to equivocation. Argumentation 2, 465–482 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00128987

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