The Polarization Error: An Analysis of the Misattribution of Definitional and Instrumental Disputes as Axiological Conflicts in Public Discourse

Abstrakt

This study analyzes a specific cognitive bias and argumentative fallacy for which the author
introduces the original term polarization error. It is a faulty abductive inference in which an
agent interprets a disagreement at the non-axiological level (instrumental or definitional) as a
fundamental disagreement at the axiological level. The aim of this paper is not to deny the
existence of genuine value conflicts, but to demonstrate how pseudo-value disputes
imperceptibly intermingle with legitimate conflicts in a polarized society. The author argues
that the essence of this error lies in the projection of one's own knowledge onto the opponent
and the attribution of bad faith, which leads to a form of epistemic misrecognition (in the sense
of A. Honneth). Failure to recognize this type of dispute transforms political agonism into
destructive antagonism and sets in motion the polarization spiral. The study illustrates this
mechanism through examples from contemporary public discourse and proposes a corrective
through the Principle of Charity as a necessary condition for functional agonism.