3 ms·

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_fallacy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_fallacy

• gruseom 19y ago
  Etymologies are irrelevant to understanding words? That can't be right. From your link: The genetic fallacy is a fallacy of irrelevance where a conclusion is suggested based solely on something or someone's origin rather than its current meaning or context. Notice how it says solely? There's no solely about this. To consider a root is not to ignore current meaning; one can do both. That's, uh, what dictionaries do. http://www.fallacyfiles.org/afonedis.html http://www.fallacyfiles.org/afonedis.html There's another point. The genetic fallacy refers to historical origin. The root of a word is certainly that, but it's also a piece (the main piece, in fact) of the word as it is now. If your point were correct, then a botanist examining the roots of a plant would also be committing the genetic fallacy. Happily for botanists and etymologists, the genetic fallacy applies to one sense of "root" but not the other. http://www.fallacyfiles.org/ambiguit.html http://www.fallacyfiles.org/ambiguit.html