Did we lose one of our Admins?

People bring up Ad Hominem fallacy but there is a related one that I notice that people are using to try to discredit one of the posters in this thread. I give to you The Genetic Fallacy:

Description of Genetic Fallacy
A Genetic Fallacy is a line of "reasoning" in which a perceived defect in the origin of a claim or thing is taken to be evidence that discredits the claim or thing itself. It is also a line of reasoning in which the origin of a claim or thing is taken to be evidence for the claim or thing. This sort of "reasoning" has the following form:


The origin of a claim or thing is presented.
The claim is true(or false) or the thing is supported (or discredited).
It is clear that sort of "reasoning" is fallacious. For example: "Bill claims that 1+1=2. However, my parents brought me up to believe that 1+1=254, so Bill must be wrong."

It should be noted that there are some cases in which the origin of a claim is relevant to the truth or falsity of the claim. For example, a claim that comes from a reliable expert is likely to be true (provided it is in her area of expertise).

Examples of Genetic Fallacy

"The current Chancellor of Germany was in the Hitler Youth at age 3. With that sort of background, his so called 'reform' plan must be a facist program."

"I was brought up to believe in God, and my parents told me God exists, so He must."

"Sure, the media claims that Senator Bedfellow was taking kickbacks. But we all know about the media's credibility, don't we."


Or what about this similer one that people are guilty of using, Appeal to spite?

Description of Appeal to Spite
The Appeal to Spite Fallacy is a fallacy in which spite is substituted for evidence when an "argument" is made against a claim. This line of "reasoning" has the following form:


Claim X is presented with the intent of generating spite.
Therefore claim C is false (or true)
This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious because a feeling of spite does not count as evidence for or against a claim. This is quite clear in the following case: "Bill claims that the earth revolves around the sun. But remember that dirty trick he pulled on you last week. Now, doesn't my claim that the sun revolves around the earth make sense to you?"

Of course, there are cases in which a claim that evokes a feeling of spite or malice can serve as legitimate evidence. However, it should be noted that the actual feelings of malice or spite are not evidence. The following is an example of such a situation:

Jill: "I think I'll vote for Jane to be treasurer of NOW."
Vicki: "Remember the time that your purse vanished at a meeting last year?"
Jill: "Yes."
Vicki:"Well, I just found out that she stole your purse and stole some other stuff from people."
Jill: "I'm not voting for her!"

In this case, Jill has a good reason not to vote for Jane. Since a treasurer should be honest, a known thief would be a bad choice. As long as Jill concludes that she should vote against Jane because she is a thief and not just out of spite, her reasoning would not be falacious.

Examples of Appeal to Spite

Bill: "I think that Jane did a great job this year. I'm going to nominate her for the award."
Dave: "Have you forgotten last year? Remember that she didn't nominate you last year."
Bill: "You're right. I'm not going to nominate her."

Jill: "I think Jane's idea is a really good one and will really save a lot of money for the department."
Bill: "Maybe. Remember how she showed that your paper had a fatal flaw when you read it at the convention last year..."
Jill:"I had just about forgotten about that! I think I'll go with your idea instead."

It is definately not becoming of those that resort to using such types of flammatory Fallacious Argumentation.

SS7, JMA, etc.

 

Geez, talk about off-topic.

To answer you Knight, no I won't. I'll only be around the boards with anything resembling regularity for the next week. So if someone wants to, feel free to take over doing it. It isn't hard for DL or Gath to change the link.

 

Are you going away, Kadue? Geez,

 

considering how well my website is going right now _|, really gotta get in gear and work on it), I'm probably not the guy folks would want to take over the Index. If I actually were working on the site on at least a weekly basis, I'd volunteer. But since I've so far missed a good bit of this month for updates to the site (right now looks like March before the next update), I think it would be better if I don't volunteer.