Rick Sumner

The problem is that you can't show that Vorkosigan's is obviously forced--it's in the eye of the beholder. That was rather the point--to me, Vorkosigan's chiasm looks forced, hence using an even more obviously forced one as analogy. That's kind of the point of a reductio ad absurdum.

Regards,
Rick Sumner

Rick Sumner

Is there any emptier rhetoric than the use of scare quotes?

Regards,
Rick Sumner

Amaleq13

It is difficult to see how an obviously forced chiasm that doesn't appear to be derived from Vorkosigan's self-defined methodology might qualify as a reductio ad absurdum. but your opinion has been expressed nonetheless. It would have been much easier to simply state that opinion rather than the more oblique method you have chosen but "To each his own", I suppose.

Personally, I find the opinion of a scholar like Andrew Criddle more helpful in obtaining a better understanding of what it is Vorkosigan has identified.