THE FALACY OF THE FOLDER MAN

THE FALACY OF THE FOLDER MAN

THE FALACY OF THE FOLDER MAN It is an argument with which it is intended to give the impression of refuting another, but, in reality, an idea is attacked that is not related to what it aspires to refute.

With this type of argument, what is intended is to generate the illusion that the opponent's proposition has really been refuted, through a completely different proposition, but never directly attending the proposition in itself.

This type of fallacy is very common in controversial debates that are impregnated with great emotionality.

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  • THE FALACY OF THE FOLDER MAN
  • Structure of the Fallacia of the straw man
    • Some examples of the straw man's fallacy are the following:
  • How do you fight the Fallacia Man de straw?
    • Bibliography

THE FALACY OF THE FOLDER MAN

With the fallacy of the straw man What is being attacked is an affirmation that the opponent has never issued.

Fallacies are deception or lies and have always been present throughout history. They are very common, for example, in the political field.

Who does not pay attention to the arguments that are intended to refute can be the victim of a fallacy, as well as the one who is not attentive to the proposition that was said.

Another term with which Fallacia is equated is sophism. As Portillo -jesus details, in his study on The use of fallacies in absurd communication, Sophism and paralogism terms are also used as a synonym for fallacy.

With these words it is alluded to reasoning that are false. However, The sophism is usually found in the dialogue, While paralogism is on the side of error, And it can be found in both monologues and dialogues.

It was in Plato's work, entitled Eutidemo, in which characters are presented to prove, through sophisms, some propositions that are paradoxical.

However, Aristotle, in the text Organom, In the last book, entitled Sophistic refutations, It was the one who mentioned that fallacies were arguments that seemed to be such.

So, for Aristotle, Paralogism was a theoretical instrument with which any deviation in discourse could be blocked Or, at least, to correct it, since, the ultimate goal of this was to seek the truth and for this it was necessary to reflect on the conditions and validity of the syllogisms.

Thus, this Greek thinker, Aristotle, found three types of fallacies, divided into two large groups, which are linguistic fallacies, or in dictitum, and non -linguistic fallacies, or Extra Dicionem.

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Structure of the Fallacia of the straw man

The fallacy of the structure of the straw man has the following logical scheme:

A states p

B criticizes to affirm Q (which is different from P)

Which leads to conclude that The affirmation of A is completely false.

Some examples of the straw man's fallacy are the following:

A: I believe in God

B: Well, I don't believe in God. I don't believe in an imaginary being who lives in the clouds and is dedicated to magic.

A: Those who opposed the Charlottown agreement They probably just wanted Quebec to separate. But we want Quebec to stay in Canada.

A: We want to encourage the healthy bicycle habit to go to work

B: What do you want is for people to suffer accidents and run them out since it is a little safe means of transportation

A: I do not consider appropriate for adolescents to go alone on vacation.

B: What you want is to force them to be locked at home and have no social life.

A: I do not consider appropriate for children under sixteen to leave alone early in the morning.

B: So when they leave the house alone they will become drug addicts?

A: I think it's bad for teenagers to go alone on vacation.

B Forcing our children to be locked at home is harmful to their emotional development.

(Note that the argument of A at no time proposed that adolescents should be locked in their homes).

Planning fallacy, do we know how long we take to perform a task?

How do you fight the Fallacia Man de straw?

To combat this type of fallacy It is recommended to be attentive to what the opponent can say To refute and, in that sense, anticipate.

Well, many times objections also arise from misunderstandings, so anticipation will always be the best way to be prepared, especially if you have the slight suspicion that the opponent can use what is said in a malicious way.

For example:

  • I think it is a very good idea that our children go on vacation, but, always accompanied by an adult so that they have more security. That is, I am not against the trip, but of the fact that they do it without company, alone.
  • I respect your system of traditions and customs, at no time would you be against them, I only prefer my system or lifestyle.
  • I am not against the students to go to pilgrimage next Saturday, I only propose that the activity is scheduled for those who are interested in doing so.

Is it a bit exhausting?, TRUE? Well, the truth is that many of the speeches that are broadcast daily are full of fallacies, and the fallacy of the straw man is another great example of this.

What is control fallacy?

Bibliography

  • Luque, l. B. (2014). Fallacies and argumentation. Square and Valdés Editores.
  • Martín de Marcos, G. (2014). Necessary fallacies: an apology for bad arguments for the argumentation class.
  • Portillo-Fernández, j. (2018). The use of fallacies in absurd communication. Logos (La Serena)28(2), 443-458.
  • Wells, g. (2018). Fallacies Mining in political discourse.