What is the Fallacy of Approximation?

Erkenntnis:1-20 (2022)
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Abstract

Many philosophers appeal to the “fallacy of approximation”, or “problem of second best”. However, despite the pervasiveness of such appeals, there has been only a single attempt to provide a systematic account of what the fallacy is. We identify the shortcomings of this account and propose a better one in its place. Our account not only captures all the contexts in which approximation-based reasoning occurs but also systematically explains the several different ways in which it can be in error.

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Matthew Hammerton
Singapore Management University

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References found in this work

The idea of justice.Amartya Sen - 2009 - Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Utopophobia: On the Limits (If Any) of Political Philosophy.David Estlund - 2019 - Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
The market and the forum: Three varieties of political theory.Jon Elster - 2002 - In Derek Matravers & Jonathan E. Pike (eds.), Debates in Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Anthology. Routledge, in Association with the Open University.
On Compromise and Rotten Compromises.Avishai Margalit - 2009 - Princeton University Press.

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