Question

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mdejess

Please give an example of the exception to the homunculus fallacy, i.e. infinite regress.

Please forgive me, but who wrote this fallacy, because he does not give an example in the concrete of an exception, but he says that there is possibility of exception.

https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/104/Homunculus_Fallacy

Homunculus Fallacy
(also known as: homunculus argument, infinite regress)
Description: An argument that accounts for a phenomenon in terms of the very phenomenon that it is supposed to explain, which results in an infinite regress.

Logical Form:
Phenomenon X needs to be explained.
Reason Y is given.
Reason Y depends on phenomenon X.

Example #1:
Bert: How do eyes project an image to your brain?
Ernie: Think of it as a little guy in your brain watching the movie projected by your eyes.
Bert: Ok, but what is happening in the little guy in your head’s brain?
Ernie: Well, think of it as a little guy in his brain watching a movie...

Explanation: This fallacy creates an endless loop that actually explains nothing. It is fallacious reasoning to accept an explanation that creates this kind of endless loop that lacks any explanatory value.

Example #2:
Dicky: So how do you think life began?
Ralphie: Simple. Aliens from another planet seeded this planet with life billions of years ago.
Dicky: OK, but how did that alien life form begin?
Ralphie: Simple. Aliens from another planet seeded that planet with life.

Explanation: This fallacy can be tricky because maybe it is true that aliens are responsible for spreading life, so the answers might be technically right, but the question implied is how life ultimately began, which this form of reasoning will not answer.

Exception: There might be some exceptions that rely on high-level epistemology having to do with a large enough loop and validating feedback. The important question to ask is does the explanation have any value and is the question being answered or deflected?
asked on Monday, Jun 27, 2016 09:25:18 PM by mdejess

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Bo Bennett, PhD
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I can't think of any examples, thus the hypothesis of the possibility only.
answered on Tuesday, Jun 28, 2016 06:12:41 AM by Bo Bennett, PhD

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