Definition:
An argumentative strategy (a type of concession) by which a speaker acknowledges the validity of an opponent's point in order to strengthen his or her primary claim. See also: epitrope.
Etymology:
Examples and Observations:
- "It is easy to point fingers, and to pin the blame for these problems on others. Yes, a colonial map that made little sense bred conflict, and the West has often approached Africa as a patron, rather than a partner. But the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants. In my father's life, it was partly tribalism and patronage in an independent Kenya that for a long stretch derailed his career, and we know that this kind of corruption is a daily fact of life for far too many."
(President Barack Obama, speech in Accra, Ghana, on July 11, 2009) - "I admit the charge [that 'Negroes are by nature the criminal class of America'], but deny that nature, race, or color has anything to do with the fact. Any other race, with the same antecedents and the same conditions, would show a similar thieving propensity. The American people have this lesson to learn, that where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property would be safe."
(Frederick Douglass, speech on April 16, 1886)
Pronunciation: pa-ro-mo-LO-ji-ah
Also Known As: admittance, paralogia, confessio
Alternate Spellings: paramologia
