One of my friends is always saying, "That statement doesn't make sense, so it must not be true." I believe that assertion to be a truth fallacy, but I can't decide the category.
2007-03-15 07:02:21 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
It's certainly a fallacy, but it's not an oxymoron or ad hominem attack, as others have said. An oxymoron is simply a (usually) literary device that functions by juxtaposing opposites: "cold fire," "rich poverty," "brilliant ignorance." An ad hominem attack consists of bashing someone's character - essentially, name-calling. An ad hominem fallacy would look something like, "I'm not voting for President Bush because he's a stupid idiot."
Anyway, the problem with saying "That statement doesn't make sense" is that you have not defined specifically _how_ or _why_ it doesn't make sense. "Making sense" is a very relative act, and notions of "sense" differ much among different people. It might "make sense" to me, for example, that my neighbor shoots his stray cats, but it might not make sense to another person, who thinks it's cruel and wonders why he doesn't take the cats to a shelter. A Taiwanese professor of mine once noted that it doesn't make sense to most Chinese people that Americans smoke their entire lives even when they _know_ it causes terrible lung diseases. See?
Also, if you put the argument in deductive form, it is valid, but not sound (the strongest arguments must be both valid and sound; look up these words if you don't know what they mean). A deductive argument is not sound when one of its premises is false:
Premise 1: In order for a statement to be true, it must make sense to me.
Premise 2: This statement doesn't make sense to me.
Conclusion: This statement is not true.
Obviously, the first premise is false; just because it doesn't make sense to him/her that women have abortions doesn't mean that women don't have or don't want to have or don't have good reasons for having abortions. So what this argument does is projects your friend's subjective idea of what "makes sense" onto the realm of objective "truth"; in other words, s/he claims that his/her own *personal* idea of what's true must and should also be true for *everyone*.
It's a fallacy in the sense that we have no definition of "making sense." So ask your friend to please be more detailed and specific next time.
2007-03-15 08:11:59 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 9⤊ 1⤋
Just because it doesn't make sense to that one person has no bearing whatsoever on it's truth. Does the idea of a water particle vibrating 2 billion times a second in your microwave really make "sense"? Does the idea of a universe that is 14 billion light years across make sense? How about the idea that our laws of physics break down within a black hole?
Sorry, I don't know the specific "category" but it's laughable.
Try this link:
http://spruce.flint.umich.edu/~simoncu/103/103spring02/fallacies.htm
Maybe a "self-evident truth" fallacy?
http://www.helixcharter.net/faculty/wjacowa/Home/Study%20and%20Success%20STK-pdf/10%20Avoiding%20Pitfalls%20Log.pdf
2007-03-15 14:12:09 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
I don't know the category but I agree with you. Ask your friend to define sense, or truth for that matter. I'm not sure they'll get very far if they make think that something is untrue because it doesn't make sense. Does our existence make sense? Does your friend exist? Is the sentence "I exist" untrue for your friend? Try some Socratic questioning to get them to at least define their terms a little better.
2007-03-15 14:18:46 · answer #3 · answered by splat 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I'm no philosophy major, but I know things don't have to make sense to be true. :) So ya, it's a fallacy of some sort.
2007-03-15 14:05:32 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Ad Hominem, maybe? It's been a while since philosophy class, but your friend's statement IS fallacious...
2007-03-15 14:09:47 · answer #5 · answered by jake78745 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
ad ignerontium, an appeal to ignorance, though this statement is slightly backwards
By the way ad hominum statements are fallacies that attack the person not the issue.
Forgive the spelling on the latin words i dont fell like looking them up.
2007-03-15 14:13:10 · answer #6 · answered by James L 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The truth doesn't make sense to those that don't understand it.
2007-03-15 14:16:49 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Truth fallacy is an oxymoron. The statement is not an oxymoron, therefore it is not a truth fallacy.
2007-03-15 14:15:24 · answer #8 · answered by Over The Rainbow 5 · 1⤊ 3⤋
It doesn't make sense to you friend but that doesn't make it not true.
2007-03-15 19:07:34 · answer #9 · answered by Pamela V 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
sounds like hasty generalization. making something seem to be true because it hasn't been proved otherwise.
2007-03-15 14:13:44 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋