Arguing backwards with all is commonly heard, especially when making quick judgments based on previous experiences. I had a roommate who was very smart and would help me with my homework, and people would come over and assume he went to college with me. The train of thought that brought about this conclusion was all smart people go to college (All S are P), and your roommate is smart (a is P), therefore he must go to college (So a is S). This is a weak argument and sure enough, not correct.
Another weak way to argue is reasoning in a chain with some. An example of this would be college graduates and their work situations. A person could say some college graduates are out of work (Some S are P). Also, some people who are out of work are on welfare (Some P are Q). So some college graduates are on welfare (So some S are Q). This may be true for a very small portion of college graduates but it is a pretty inaccurate way to describe the average college graduate. You can see how this may not be the best way of convincing someone of something
I completely agree with you about arguing backwards. I know a lot of people that reason in that manner and end up with poor or false arguments because they haven’t thought about what they are really saying. I especially liked your example about graduate students and work. In fact, that sort of reasoning could lead to the Slippery Slope fallacy as well. People that assume that jobless students are automatically on welfare might as well assume that they are on food stamps too. But, many low-income students qualify for financial aid like grants or scholarships. While they may not have a great deal of extra money, they could probably afford to pay for their schooling and eat with that much funding.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read the term, arguing backwards. I did not really understand the concept. As I read on, I completely understood it because I feel like I do that all the time. My best friend and I used to do our hair the same in grade school. (Yeah, I know.. that’s lame.) We were always together and we are both Filipino and we have the same skin tone. A lot of people assumed that we were related, but we totally weren’t. Another common one is that people conclude that I’m mad because I don’t smile a lot. The conclusion was that all happy people smile. I wasn’t smiling so it was assumed that I was unhappy.
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