White Collar Crime : A Propositional Logical Analysis of a Concept

• In their book White-Collar Crime – An Opportunity Perspective (2009), Benson and Simpson undertake the task of more precisely denoting the concept of white-collar crime by its nature and how the causal structure of the object is meant to be understood. The aim of this article is to prove the logical consistency (validity and consequence) of Benson and Simpson’s derivation of the concept. The article focuses on the propositional explanation of causation, by applying first-order logic inference rules of sentential and predicate logic based on the rule of contraposition: a → b ↔ ¬b → ¬a. The results show that Benson and Simpsons’ argument is not logical valid, but logical consequent that is something that the agenda can build on.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Juridik -- Juridik och samhälle (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Law -- Law and Society (hsv//eng)

Keyword

White-collar crime

causality

formal logic

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

for (subject category)