Question

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Jason Mathias

If there is a guilt by association fallacy, is there also a praise by association fallacy as well?

Here is an example from a article headline I saw: 

P1: Florida has the lowest Covid-19 case rate in the country. 

p2: Ron DeSantis did this without vaccine mandates, without mask mandates in school and with no restrictions on businesses. Life simply went on. 

C: Therefore, the country needs a dose of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to battle Covid-19

 

Now, as you can see Ron DeSantis did nothing so how can he be responsible for lowering cases and deserving of the presidency? 

asked on Sunday, Nov 07, 2021 08:48:55 AM by Jason Mathias

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Answers

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Bo Bennett, PhD
4

I think this would be covered under insignificant cause . However, I have not researched the details and I don't know if a reasonable argument could be made that DeSantis' policies are primarily to credit. This argument is looking at one point in time, not the total damage done, so that could be a problem as well (e.g., if all vulnerable people are already dead because of bad policy, nobody is left to die).

It might just be the case that p2 is an opinion and not supported by the data.

answered on Sunday, Nov 07, 2021 09:10:55 AM by Bo Bennett, PhD

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Jason Mathias writes:

Yes, I was also thinking of the cherry picking fallacy as it ignores when cases were the highest in the country just a month or two ago. Seems like a lot of volatility rather than being under control. 

posted on Sunday, Nov 07, 2021 10:04:32 AM
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Kostas Oikonomou writes:

Is there a difference between insignificant cause and causal reductionism ? They seem pretty much the same to me. Or is it that insignificant cause is a subcase of causal reductionism in that it's not only a single cause out of more but it's also a minor one? Is that it?

posted on Tuesday, Nov 09, 2021 11:14:47 AM
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TrappedPrior (RotE) writes:
[To Kostas Oikonomou]

Yep, there's a difference but it's subtle.

Causal reductionism means assuming one cause for an effect when there are actually multiple.

Insignificant cause would involve taking a cause that does not explain the entire effect, and passing it off as sufficient.

Looking at the logical forms of each fallacy helps. 

[ login to reply ] posted on Tuesday, Nov 09, 2021 02:46:09 PM
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Kostas Oikonomou writes:
[To Rationalissimus of the Elenchus]

I looked at the logical forms but they do not help either. Also if there are other causes for something, then the single cause would ALSO not explain the entire effect to its entire extent. IMHO I don't think that's a difference adequate enough to justify two different fallacies. It still looks to me as the same. Even when I looked at the examples, I think one could interchangeably use them (as insignificant cause or causal reductionism). So still, the only difference I see is the word MINOR (single cause), which means that insignificant cause is just a subset of causal reductionism. That's splitting hair IMHO.

[ login to reply ] posted on Tuesday, Nov 09, 2021 04:46:13 PM
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TrappedPrior (RotE) writes:
[To Kostas Oikonomou]

The way I see it, causal reductionism is more of a mindset (where you assume only one cause for an effect).

Insignificant cause would refer to a case where you take one minor cause out of many and act like it is enough to explain the phenomenon. 

(you have a point though, they are quite similar.)

[ login to reply ] posted on Thursday, Nov 11, 2021 03:32:12 AM
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Mchasewalker
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There's no real argument going on here between P1 and P2 as they are in agreement although P2 is factually wrong since De Santis has enacted egregious mask mandate restrictions by prohibiting them. for businesses, government organizations, and defiant school districts.

But, Dr. Bo offers some excellent alternatives on this type of propaganda:

Selective Attention:

Logical Form:

Information is presented.
Response addresses only some of the information, completely ignoring the rest.

Cherry Picking:

Logical Form:

Evidence A and evidence B is available.

Evidence A supports the claim of person 1.

Evidence B supports the counterclaim of person 2.

Therefore, person 1 presents only evidence A.

Hypnotic Bait and Switch is another interesting propaganda technique.

answered on Sunday, Nov 07, 2021 10:17:38 AM by Mchasewalker

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Jason Mathias writes:

I have not heard of the hypnotic bait and switch before, so thank you for that as I was wondering if there was a name for this. I have always been trying to explain to people that premises can be factual, but the conclusion can be false. There is this myth that most people accept, and that is if there is a fact in their argument then that means the argument is true. This couldn't be further from the truth lol. 

Whats the main difference between the hypnotic bait and switch fallacy and the non sequitur fallacy? 

posted on Sunday, Nov 07, 2021 11:53:41 AM
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Mchasewalker writes:
[To Jason Mathias ]

I just learned of it myself, but it seems more of a propagandistic strategy than a formal fallacy. A kind of rhetorical sleight-of-hand.

If we take the whole De Santis Covid record as a whole it’s been a disaster, but in selective snippets it might be deceptively presented as plausible. If anything he’s shown himself to be cravenly opportunistic. I suspect his comeuppance awaits in the coming months with the inevitable winter surge. 

[ login to reply ] posted on Sunday, Nov 07, 2021 12:28:42 PM
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Dr. Richard
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This is the fourth pandemic I have lived through, but the first to be politicized. With that politicalization came deeply felt and expressed emotional outbursts. 

I find the emotional response to masks, etc., as incredible. For example in this thread, “De Santis has enacted egregious mask mandate restrictions by prohibiting them for businesses, government organizations, and defiant school districts.” For full disclosure, I come from the libertarian, not totalitarian, part of the political spectrum, but let’s accept the statement as given. I do not think my opinion of what to do should be forced on others. 

Florida has been without masks for a year and a half. If the statement had a basis, then after the 18 months Florida has been an “open” state, why isn’t everyone in Florida dead or in the hospital? 

Even though the state has millions of retired senior citizens, it still has fewer deaths and hospitalizations than, for example, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan or Illinois.

Instead, Florida’s economy is booming. People are happy. Quality of life is high. And very few are sick. In other words, what De Santis did worked. 

All of this is to argue the policy differences between the states, but not the personalities. But beyond efficacy concern is the issue of freedom versus totalitarianism, the Constitutional and other legal issues.

My parents were born during the 1918-1919 Spanish Flu pandemic. I lived through the Asian flu pandemic of 1957 (from China), the Hong Kong flu epidemic of 1968 (again from China), and the H1N1 Swine flu pandemic in 2009 (first identified as a threat to humans in Hong Kong in 1997). Like 99+% of other people, I’ll survive the Wuhan COVID-19 flu of 2020 — even though I am in the vulnerable age group. It is done by being responsible, not by being a sheep. Yes, I am vaccinated. 

So, did De Santis act in an egregious manner? I think not.

answered on Monday, Nov 08, 2021 10:21:36 AM by Dr. Richard

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