Happy Friday, everyone. Time for another entry in my Logical Fallacies Bootcamp series, a look at various logical fallacies you may encounter from time to time. Today’s logical fallacy is the Fallacy Fallacy!
That seems redundant, right? The Fallacy Fallacy? What on Earth could that be? Well, it is what it says.
Just because someone has committed a logical fallacy in an argument doesn’t mean that they are automatically wrong. Assuming that is the case is...a fallacy unto itself.
A few examples:
Socrates is a man. Men are mortal. Socrates is mortal. Therefore, Socrates is a man.
The above seem to make sense at first, but it’s a fallacy. Socrates could be a chicken, or a duck, or a dog. It just so happens in this case that Socrates is indeed a man, and so even though the reasoning to reach the conclusion is fallacious, the final conclusion is actually correct. The correct conclusion was reached even though the reasoning was sloppy.
To render this fallacy in another way:
If X, then Y.
However, X is fallacious.
Therefore Y is false.
As we can see from the first example, that’s not automatically the case, as a correct conclusion could be reached despite incorrect reasoning. Here’s another example:
John speaks English. John must be English.
Obviously, lots of people speak English who are NOT English — however, if John does indeed happen to be English, the statement happens to reach a correct conclusion despite faulty reasoning.
Dogs are animals. Fanny is an animal. Therefore, Fanny is a dog.
Once again, if Fanny happens to be the neighbor’s Pomeranian, the conclusion is correct, even though Fanny could just as easily be the neighbor’s parrot, cat, or gerbil.
This is a good one to keep in mind because there is a tendency to want to entirely discredit another’s argument based on an error in thinking. However, we can’t simply dismiss their argument entirely out of hand based on that, and must keep an open mind that, without further evidence, they could be correct.
Of course, if there is logic or evidence to the contrary, then the fallacy does not apply and the person is simply incorrect.
Pretty straightforward this time, but something of a cautionary note to keep in mind when debating someone that without definite evidence the contrary, we have to be open the possibility that even with fallacious reasoning a correct conclusion might be reached.
Until next time, folks!