On Sun, Sep 21, 2003 at 05:27:39PM +0100, MJ Ray wrote: > On 2003-09-21 15:41:02 +0100 Roland Mas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > If by that you mean we should add an explicit "We define software as > >everything non-hardware" clause to our policy, then I'll agree with > >you. > > The logical conclusion of that process is defining all words in it, > then defining all words used in the definitions and so on, which is > clearly absurd.
No, that's not a logical conclusion. It's a fallacy, specifically the slippery slope fallacy. If we add a definition of "software" because it is (apparently) subject to different interpretations and a source of controversy, then we can add a definition for just that one word. There's no evidence that all other words in the document lead to such controversy, and no reason to suppose that we'll have to define them too. I invite you to study these pages: http://www.cuyamaca.net/bruce.thompson/Fallacies/slippery.asp http://gncurtis.home.texas.net/slipslop.html http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope The first one is particularly relevant because it describes exactly what you're doing here: The Slippery Slope fallacy mimics the pattern of the reductio ad absurdum argument. It postulates the truth of an opponent's position, and then tries to make the case that the opponent's position would lead to unacceptable consequences. The Slippery Slope fallacy is illegitimate, however, because the consequences claimed are not actually logical consequences of the opponent's position. Rather, the opponent's position is "connected" to the unacceptable consequences by some other means. Sometimes the argument postulates a (usually improbable) causal sequence of events that would lead from the opponent's position being accepted to the unacceptable consequences. Other times the argument turns on a psychological continuum, i.e. that we will slowly become accustomed to things that we currently find unacceptable. (Such psychological continuums do exist, but movement is rarely only in a single direction, so movement to an unacceptable extreme is never inevitable.) -- Richard Braakman There's still time to save Europe from software patents. EuropeSwPatentFree - http://EuropeSwPatentFree.internautas.org
