(August 27, 2019 at 12:32 pm)Anomalocaris Wrote: I would like to point out that Stolen Concept was conceived of as Ayn Rand's contribution mainly by herself and her worshipful acolytes. Quick search shows it is named as a philosophical principle mainly on Conservapedia. These acolytes seem either unaware or don't care that it is largely a wordy and rather colloquial restatement of something Aristotle had set out as a principle 2000 years before. And I am not certain even Aristotle was by any means the first to set out such a principle.
Back in 2005 a guy named Tom Robinson pointed out here:
http://forum.objectivismonline.com/index...a-fallacy/
The "stolen concept" fallacy is simply the application of Aristotle's Principle of Non-Contradiction, which holds "the same attribute cannot at the same time belong and not belong to the same subject and in the same respect." (Metaphysics, Book IV, Part 3. Translation by W.D. Ross.) In his Jan. 1963 Objectivist Newsletter article, "The Stolen Concept," Nathaniel Branden refers to Proudhon's "All property is theft" as an example of this fallacy. Yet the internal inconsistency of Proudhon's statement can be refuted just as easily by reference to Aristotle: the subject "property" cannot at the same time and same respect be both "rightfully owned" and not "rightfully owned."
I tend to agree. There is nothing new under the sun.
