Abstract
The concept-swapping fallacy could be dismissed out of hand as a mere playing on words that does not deceive anyone were it not for the fact that under certain circumstances it can, and does, have serious practical consequences. This is eminently the case of the alleged proof that a supranational organisation such as the League of Nations is a logical impossibility, for it would destroy the nation-states that would try to set it up. This ‘proof’, constructed of all pieces by German legal scholars, was instrumental in preventing the establishment of such an organisation and in preparing the ground for future war.
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Notes
- 1.
See Stengel (1909, 4).
- 2.
See Stengel (1909, 93, 94).
- 3.
See Stengel (1909, 1).
- 4.
The first quotation is on p. 55, the second on p. 34 of Jellinek (1882). The German here translated by ‘one’s own will’ and ‘its own will’ actually lacks expression of the possessor or subject of the will, which in English is impossible. This is part of the linguistic sleight of hand perpetrated by Jellinek. The question of whose will we are talking about is thus much harder to raise for the original German definitions. The state as such cannot be said to will, only certain individuals or groups who are in a position to make the relevant decisions.
- 5.
It is interesting that Nelson, usually quite sharp, in this passage seems to consider the State as a subject of will. See Footnote 4 in this chapter.
- 6.
See Jellinek (1914, 365).
- 7.
See Jellinek (1914, 772).
- 8.
Nelson refers to cases such as the United States of America, born as a federation in 1776, as well as the newly unified states of Italy (1870) and the German Reich (1871).
- 9.
See Jellinek (1882, 11).
References
Hegel, Georg Friedrich Wilhelm. 1821. Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts. Berlin: Nicolai. [English translation: Elements of the philosophy of right, Cambridge University Press, 1991].
Jellinek, Georg. 1882. Die Lehre von den Staatenverbindungen [The theory of associations of states]. Vienna: Alfred Hölder.
Jellinek, Georg. 1914. Allgemeine Staatslehre [General theory of the state], 3rd ed. Berlin: Oscar Häring [First edition 1900, second edition 1905].
Stengel, Karl Michael Joseph Leopold, Freiherr von. 1909. Weltsaat und Friedensproblem [World government and the peace problem]. Berlin: Reichl & Co.
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Nelson, L. (2016). Lecture XVI. In: A Theory of Philosophical Fallacies. Argumentation Library, vol 26. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20783-4_17
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