"Bulverism"

C.S. Lewis describes the term "Bulverism" by referencing its imaginary creator, Ezekiel Bulver. A small child who at the age of five overheard his parents having an argument. His mother made a decisive move when she exclaimed, "Oh, you say that because you are a man." Bulver realized the power in this and explained, "there flashed across my opening mind the great truth that refutation is no necessary part of argument. Assume your opponent is wrong, and then explain his error, and the world will be at your feet. Attempt to prove that he is wrong or (worse still) try to find out whether he is wrong or right, and the national dynamism of our age will thrust you to the wall."Of course Bulver is a fictional character that Lewis created to better illustrate his point, however the basic idea of Bulverism still remains. It is most simply defined as refuting an argument by assuming they are wrong without proving that they are wrong. By explaining why he is wrong without showing that he is in fact wrong one can Bulverize an opponent and change the focus of the argument.

It is important to note that Bulverism is available to everyone. "For Bulverism is a truly democratic game in the sense that all can play it all day long, and that it give no unfair advantage to the small and offensive minority who reason." For example, the attacks used against Christianity can all be turned around and used in reverse against the "modern man."This is rather useless though, because it does not bring us any closer to the truth. Saying why Christianity was spread, or why the modern man wants to dispel God does not actually answer whether or not Christianity is true or false.

Lewis adamantly despises Bulverism, and wants to eradicate it. He says, "until Bulverism is crushed, reason can play no effective part in human affairs." Bulverism allows you to win an argument, but not to prove a point infallibly. Because Bulverism is universal it can be turned against you and your stance can be destroyed, followed by their point being attacked. This cycle can go on and on until you reach the point of trying to prove that all proofs are invalid, which is in and of itself, an oxymoron-and impossible.

This piece is particularly striking because of the relevance it still holds today. Lewis talks about Bulver's work spreading "almost everywhere" during the 1940s. It is my conjecture that it has only grown since then. One of the most prominent examples of this can be seen in politics today. Our dichotomous political parties have grown to be such distinct enemies of one another that we rarely see a campaign that promotes what the candidate will do to make things better. Instead there is a slur of hatred and rumors that "destroys" the oppositions legitimacy. It is common to hear why Democrats or Republicans are wrong, but rare, much more rare to show why their ideologies are wrong. I thought it was funny that this came up because it reminded me of a part of the speech we heard yesterday, where Mr. Bytwork was discussing the controversy of President Bush attending Calvin. He said something that was a passing comment, a joke even, saying that the professor who was protesting Bush was a brilliant woman in English but was wrong on this subject. The comment was not inherently mean-spirited or malicious. However, it is a perfect example of how Bulverism has become so ingrained into our society that it can be said without a second thought.

This leads me to my next point, of how common Bulverism is that we use it every day with one another. It is tragic to see how often we disagree with friends and family, and rather than discuss it and find an answer logically we argue and use fallacious arguments to prove a point. I know I am just as guilty of it as anyone else. I do it without even realizing it often times. This cannot stand any longer.

In class we discussed a few possible options for how to eliminate Bulverism from our society. The suggestion that seemed to transcend most other ideas was that of humility. It is so vital for us to understand that we are not infallible sources of wisdom. If we can understand our own finitude, this helps us to learn to respect others ideas. When we have respect for others this helps us in dialogue, because when we talk we aren't trying to insult them, we genuinely want to help them. When you have the persons best interest at heart, you won't just see them as an ignorant fool, you will see them as a fellow human being who you want to "look along" the light with you. We have gotten too accustomed to seeing those who look at things differently as enemies.

It is natural that as human beings we look at different groups of people as "the other" and ourselves as "the one." We categorize and separate parts of our life to get a sense of understanding. I understand myself as an American because that is defined differently then someone from Germany. Or I define myself as middle class and see the other as upper class. Differences help define us and make us unique. However we cannot see one as superior to the other to the extent that we subjugate them, such as the slavery and racism that was prevalent in America and can be seen even today. When we see someone as different and disagree with their opinions, we cannot simply say they are wrong for reasons that aren't pertinent. We need to prove empirically that one side is correct. Bulverism is a tool to prejudice and hatred. As Christians we need to strive to show the love that Christ showed us to others. We don't have to agree with what they say, but we must still treat them with respect since we are all Gods children.