ABSTRACT

The notion of ellipsis is in fact something of a dark horse in the philosophical stable. The study of thinking, and of how to improve thinking, sometimes focuses on fairly technical, formalizable issues such as have been studied by logicians, and, at other times, on extremely diffuse problems raised by ordinary argument, propaganda, advertizing, or ideology. The political ideology of freedom exploits an obvious ellipsis. Many students of society have written at great length on ideology. The fluidity of the standard terms of political debate is a constant theme in Nigel Harris’ discussion of ideology. That social situation is also crucial for understanding the ideology, for people do not at all have the same perception of events: a flat disc may appear circular from one position, but a thin strip from another. But there is also a more diffuse ideology of metaphysical freedom, which can be illuminated by reference to ellipsis.