Fallacies
"All the news that's fit to be fallacious-the fallacy of Ignoratio Elenchi on the editorial pages of The New York Times" A statement exhibiting Walton's fallacy of Ignoratio Elenchi has an unsubstantiated conclusion, given the evidence that is presented to the reader. The conclusion itself may be valid. However, the evidence used to support the conclusion according to the author's argument is not logically valid. (Conversely, within the parameters of formal deductive logic, the syllogism all men are mortal, Socrates is a man, therefore Socrates is mortal IS a logical statement, even if outside the logical frame of the syllogism, Socrates is, for example, a inorganic computer.) According to one Internet encyclopedia of philosophy: "the Ignoratio Elenchi is usually considered slightly narrower in focus than the non sequitur. Strictly speaking, any time a conclusion does not follow from its premises, the non sequitur fallacy occurs. Other similar fallacies include diversion, red herring, subject changing, and ignoring the issue. In law, such a response given to a question can be called 'non-responsive.'"
In an editorial by the publication's staff entitled: "Save the Earth and Find a Hair Gel," the authors bemoan the poor quality of information on Internet forums: "On most days, the online forums for Yahoo! Answers have all the gravity of hair salon chatter. The New York Times) "And they [the posts] may serve no other purpose than to get those visitors to use some of their time online to think about more than what movies to see or makeup to buy," a statement which presumes that somehow the posts by celebrities are more thought-provoking than the posts of an non-celebrity poster-an assumption again made without evidence. And who, one might add, is more qualified to judge the quality, of say, a hair gel, than a user who has personally used the product? Would a scientific authority that researched hair gel but never used it be superior to an ordinary person-sometimes a layperson's opinion might be more valid, on some issues, such as personal grooming. In fact, if one required expertise to weigh in correctly on everything in life, than juries and the democratic voting process of America would be invalid. It notes that, despite the presumed lack of qualifications of the majority of posters, more and more qualified and semi-qualified celebrities such as Bono, Stephen Hawkins, and Al Gore are posting on such forums, in response to queries and opinions by ordinary users. " ("Save the Earth and Find a Hair Gel," Opinions, 13 Jul 2006. It's a sort of democratization of authority, wherein utterly unqualified and generally anonymous poseurs can dole out counsel on questions about everything from losing weight to gaining wealth. But even a recent editorial from the otherwise respectable publication The New York Times demonstrates this fallacy. Finally, the article ends on a curious note. Anyone can post a question about anything and anyone can respond. The New York Times) "That's not such a bad thing for a medium that is often criticized as a way of wasting time. "The celebrity queries may be intended merely to draw more people to Yahoo," the article states, even though some of these posters have no connection to the service (another statement that may be true, but is unsupported. The New York Times) Although it may be true that most or at least some of the evidence on such boards is of dubious quality, simply because the method of posting is democratic, anonymous, and open to everyone on the Internet does not automatically mean that the opinions are wrong. ("Save the Earth and Find a Hair Gel," Opinions, 13 Jul 2006. ("Save the Earth and Find a Hair Gel," Opinions, 13 Jul 2006.
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Acceptance Essays
