defeater
1
8.6
- noun
- /dɪˈfiːtər/
- Specialized
:
refutador
- Perhaps the most significant feature of religious reason, and perhaps the feature from which all the other differences between religious reason and secular reason derive, is the oft-touted claim by believers that religious reasons carry an infallible supreme authority that guarantees the truth of such claims against all potential epistemic defeaters.
Examples
-
Conciliar teaching is not in opposition to exclusivism as Plantinga has defended it, and it seems to relieve his worry that pluralism might serve as an undercutting defeater of religious exclusivism.
Academic text (2011) -
In that way, knowledge of the facts of pluralism could initially serve as a defeater, but in the long run, have precisely the opposite effect.
Academic text (2011) -
In my example of wishful thinking, the fact that I failed to consider defeaters has a straightforward explanation.
Academic text (2016) -
The new evidence served as a defeater for the previous theory about the event.
-
She presented a clear defeater to the claim that the policy was effective.
-
If there is a defeater for your argument, you need to reconsider your stance.
Antonyms
How Conclusive
1
6.8
- Formal
10
6.8
- Specialized
1
8.6
60
6.7
11
5.1
- Jargon
123
6.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Defeater comes from defeat, a word that originally meant 'to make undone' or 'undo', so a defeater can be something that 'undoes' a belief, reason, or plan and stops it from being accepted.