Ipse dixit explained

Ipse dixit (Latin for "he said it himself") is an assertion without proof, or a dogmatic expression of opinion.^[1] ^[2]

The fallacy of defending a proposition by baldly asserting that it is "just how it is" distorts the argument by opting out of it entirely: the claimant declares an issue to be intrinsic and immutable.^[3]

History

The Latin form of the expression comes from the Roman orator and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BC) in his theological studies De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods) and is his translation of the Greek expression (with the identical meaning) autòs épha (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: αὐτὸς ἔφα), an argument from authority made by the disciples of Pythagoras when appealing to the pronouncements of the master rather than to reason or evidence.^[4]

Before the early 17th century, scholars applied the ipse dixit term to justify their subject-matter arguments if the arguments previously had been used by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BC).^[5]

Ipse-dixitism

In the late 18th century, Jeremy Bentham adapted the term ipse dixit into the word ipse-dixitism.^[6]

Notes and References

Whitney, William Dwight (1906). "Ipse dixit". The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia. Vol. 4. Century. pp. 379–380.
Westbrook, Robert B. (1991). John Dewey and American Democracy. Cornell University Press. p. 359.
VanderMey, Randall; Meyer, Verne; Van Rys, John; Sebranek, Patrick (2012). COMP. Cengage. p. 183. "Bare assertion. The most basic way to distort an issue is to deny that it exists. This fallacy claims, 'That's just how it is.
Poliziano, Angelo. (2010). Angelo Poliziano's Lamia: Text, Translation, and Introductory Studies, p. 26; excerpt, "In Cicero's De natura deorum, as well as in other sources, the phrase “Ipse dixit” pointed to the notion that Pythagoras's disciples would use that short phrase as justification for adopting a position: if the master had said it, it was enough for them and there was no need to argue further."
Burton, George Ward. (1909). Burton's book on California and its sunlit skies of glory, p. 27; excerpt, "But by the time of Bacon, students had fallen into the habit of accepting Aristotle as an infallible guide, and when a dispute arose the appeal was not to fact, but to Aristotle's theory, and the phrase, Ipse dixit, ended all dispute."
Bentham, Jeremy. (1834). Deontology; or, The science of morality, Vol. 1, p. 323; excerpt, "ipsedixitism ... comes down to us from an antique and high authority, —-it is the principle recognised (so Cicero informs us) by the disciples of Pythagoras. Ipse