Critical Thinking: Capitalist Apologetics And The Fallacy Of No True Scotsman, Moving The Goalpost, And Sorites Paradox

1) No True Scotsman fallacy

"True capitalism has never been implemented in any society."

"But what about the United States or the United Kingdom?"

"Well, those aren't examples of true capitalism because they have government regulations or social programs."

"What about the Industrial Revolution era with minimal regulations?"

"That wasn't real capitalism either because there were still some government controls and monopolies."

In this scenario, the original claim is not supported by evidence, and the definition of "true capitalism" is manipulated to exclude any real-world examples. The argument keeps moving the goalposts, redefining "real capitalism" to exclude any actual historical examples.

2) The Continuum Fallacy (or Sorites Paradox)

"How much government makes it not capitalism?

• Is it one regulation?

• Ten regulations?

• 15% GDP government spending?

• 25% GDP government spending?

• Some police and courts?

• Public roads?"

The Sorites Paradox posits that if we can't explain which grain of sand finally makes it a heap of sand, then we can't recognize a heap of sand when we see one. If we can't define which forceful blow constituted excessive use of force, then we can't identify excessive use of force when we see it. If we can't pinpoint the exact line where government involvement becomes "too much," we can't identify capitalist systems at all; eg, "There's no such thing as state capitalism. It's socialism."