4 ms·
This page is full of 'fallacies' that are technically correct — they are sometimes used fallaciously, but simultaneously, many are fair considerations that are
by akarma 5y ago
This page is full of 'fallacies' that are technically correct — they are sometimes used fallaciously, but simultaneously, many are fair considerations that are often used correctly.
It is fun to read and healthy to be aware of these, but I hope that, in reading these, one doesn't paint broad brush strokes and declare that any appeal to nature, or pity, or tradition is fallacious.
As one example:
> 12. The Appeal to Tradition
A lack of any respect for tradition is a serious issue for a society. It's not fallacious to give credence to tradition, meaning to tread carefully around it.
If people before you designed a system in a certain way, it's important to be able to fairly note the advantages and disadvantages of their system, and why they designed it the way they did before changing it. Use the principle of charity. Assume that they, intelligent and resourceful as you, had considered your option and decided against it. Why? Is there anything you're missing?
In support of it being a fallacy, there are people who cling to clearly disadvantageous things based solely on tradition regardless of objective consideration, but there's just as many people who think through the pros and cons of the new and old and use tradition healthily. These days they're often labelled as fallaciously appealing to tradition for even giving the past consideration.
- blacksmith_tb 5y agoOf course the tricky thing about traditions is that they change... which is also the best thing about them, as infanticide, slavery, stoning people to death etc. are 'traditional' but humans have mostly moved on from them now, luckily. Generally I'd say when people appeal to tradition in an argument it is an attempt to derail the discussion - "it goes without saying..."
- akarma 5y agoWe also have many traditions around general morality, consideration, respect, tolerance, and so forth. To give no consideration to tradition is a terrible idea for society; it devalues the work and thought of those who came before us, and it leads to throwing out hundreds of babies with the bathwater. We're in agreement on the fallacy of "it goes without saying...," but many people in society today show no consideration to history or tradition, and see no value in attempting to understand it enough to see its advantages. In other words: this 100% can be a fallacy, but in modern society, we're currently in more danger of forgetting the value of history and tradition, than the danger of valuing it too much.
- blacksmith_tb 5y agoSure, I don't think any critic of some traditions in their culture would want to try to live without any of them. It is one of the advantages of being exposed to other belief systems, 'making the familiar strange and the strange familiar'.