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Wireless Philosophy
Course: Wireless Philosophy > Unit 1
Lesson 2: Fallacies- Fallacies: Formal and Informal Fallacies
- Formal and Informal Fallacies
- Fallacies: Fallacy of Composition
- Fallacies: Fallacy of Division
- Division and Composition
- Fallacies: Introduction to Ad Hominem
- Fallacies: Ad Hominem
- Ad Hominem, Part 1
- Ad Hominem, Part 2
- Fallacies: Affirming the Consequent
- Fallacies: Denying the Antecedent
- Denying the Antecedent and Affirming the Consequent
- Fallacies: Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
- Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
- Fallacies: Appeal to the People
- Fallacies: Begging the Question
- Begging the Question
- Fallacies: Equivocation
- Fallacies: Straw Man Fallacy
- Fallacies: Slippery Slope
- Fallacies: Red Herring
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Fallacies: Equivocation
Joseph Wu (University of Cambridge) explains the fallacy of equivocation, the fallacy that occurs when the same term is used with different meanings in an argument. Along the way, he discusses whether Miley Cyrus is an exploding ball of gas.
Speaker: Joseph Wu, University of Cambridge.
Speaker: Joseph Wu, University of Cambridge.
Want to join the conversation?
- Would this be an informal or formal fallacy?(4 votes)
- The equivocation fallacy is an informal fallacy because the flaw is in the content of the argument, namely the ambiguity of its terms. It is not a formal fallacy because the argument form is valid; the problem is with determining the truth of its premises, and thus the soundness of the argument.(5 votes)
- In your "Begging the Question" video, there is an "N" where there should be a "W" spelling Neighs instead of Weighs. Is this intentional?(1 vote)
- What would an abstract explanation of this flaw look like in an answer choice? Fails to consider there is more than one meaning??(1 vote)
Video transcript
Hello. I'm Joseph Wu, and I'm a Philosophy graduate student
at the University of Cambridge. In this video, I'll be explaining the
informal fallacy known as equivocation, a fallacy that comes up all the time. Before we look at some more problematic
examples, let's start off with a simple one,
to see how it works. Consider the following argument: Premise one: All stars are exploding balls of gas. Premise two: Miley Cyrus is a star. Conclusion: Therefore, Miley Cyrus is an exploding
ball of gas. Wow, this is clearly a terrible argument! The form of this argument appears to
be valid, and each of the premises, when considered
individually, is true. You might recall from a previous video
that an argument with a valid form and true premises is considered sound. You might also recall that a sound
argument necessarily has a true conclusion. But you're probably not convinced that
Miley Cyrus is an exploding ball of gas. And you're right to think that the logic
is flawed. So what's wrong with this argument? This argument commits the fallacy of
equivocation. Here, the word "star" is used with
different meanings in the two premises. In the first premise, star is intended
to mean something like: a celestial sphere of plasma. But then the meaning of star shifts
in the second premise, where star refers to a famous person. The premises equivocate between two
meanings of the word "star." To be precise, equivocation occurs when
the same word is used to express different meanings through out
an argument. The arguer is committing a fallacy,
because he or she uses the word as if that word have the
same meaning, and so the argument would appear to
be valid, even though it actually is not. Equivocation results from ambiguities
in language. Since many words can have more than
one meaning, we need to be cautious that key terms are not shifting meaning
during the course of an argument. Since equivocation results from multiple
meanings of a single term, a helpful strategy to expose this fallacy
is to restate the premises of the argument but without the ambiguous term. For example, let's substitute our
definitions of the word "star" into the premises of the previous example. Premise one: All celestial spheres of plasma are
exploding balls of gas. Premise two: Miley Cyrus is a famous person. Conclusion: Therefore, Miley Cyrus is an exploding
ball of gas. Clearly, this argument isn't valid, once we got rid of the ambiguous term,
"star." Even though both of the premises are true,
the conclusion does not follow. This example is surely far fetched. After all, no one has ever equivocated
Miley being a fomous person with Miley being an exploding ball of gas. But know that we understand how this
fallacy generally works, let's look at two examples that are not so
easy to spot. Suppose a respectable newspaper was
criticized for spreading celebrity gossip., and suppose that, in response,
the editor gave the following argument: Premise one: Newspapers have a duty to print stories
that are in the public interest. Premise two: The public has great interest in rumors
about celebrities, since circulation increases when
newspapers print such stories. Conclusion: It's not wrong for respectable newspapers
to pass on rumors about celebrities. As with our Miley Cyrus example, this
argument appears to be valid. But is it actually? The key term that shows in both
premises of this argument is "interest." So let's focus on how it is used. In the first premise, interest is used
to mean the benefit of a person or a group, like in the sentence: It is in your interest to keep your
bank account information private. In the second premise, interest is used to mean an activity
one enjoys doing, like in the sentence: My interests are swimming, hiking,
and reading. Since the meaning of the term "interest"
has shifted between the first and second premises, this editor has committed the fallacy
of equivocation; his argument isn't valid. Here's another example. Suppose your friend tells you this: Organic compounds contain carbon, and organic foods are better for the
environment, so when you're grocery shopping, you should look for foods that contain
carbon in it, as these foods are better for
the environment. The absurdity of the conclusion should
alert us that something has gone wrong int this argument. So let's take a closer look at how the
term "organic" is being used. The statement "organic compounds contain
carbon" is true. This is the scientific definition of
"organic" used by chemists. The next statement:,"organic foods are
better for the environment," is also true. But note that, now, the definition of
organic refers to the methods by which that food was produced
and processed. The term "organic" is now used in an
agricultural sense, rather than a scientific one. This argument equivocates between two
different meanings of organic, so it isn't valid. It's worth noting that even if we limit the
term "organic" to its agricultural sense, the thread of equivocation still looms,
due to the ambiguity of the term. For instance, different countries have
different standards for what counts as organic. Different foods also adhere to different
standards. And in the United States, there are various
categories for labeling organic products, ranging from a product made with 100 %
organic ingredients, to a product made with at least 70 %
organic ingredients. If you're ever suspicious that an
argument is guilty of equivocation, try the method we used in the first
example of this video: First, distinguish the potential meanings
of the ambiguous term in an argument. Then, restate the argument without the
ambiguous term, so that the premises are still true. Finally, evaluate the translated
argument. Is it valid? If not, then the argument has committed
the fallacy of equivocation. Subtitles by the Amara.org community