Is this a fallacy in response to a fallacy?

Question

Jason Mathias	Is this a fallacy in response to a fallacy? Person 1: Shares a conspiracy theory on social media that attacks medical experts. Person 2: Presents the logical form of a conspiracy theory fallacy. A is true. B is why the truth can’t be proven. Therefore, A is true. Person 1: Wow, did you come up with that all by yourself? You are stupid, I'm amazed how some people think they are so smart but have no idea what's really going on in the world. You think you are so smart and you believe you are always right. You are a stupid douche bag. Person 2: You are trying to make the argument that an intelligent person must be stupid. Just think about that for a minute. Also, I never claimed that which makes this a Strawman Fallacy. It’s you who believes that I must believe I’m always right, not me. Person 2: I never said an intelligent person was stupid now you are committing a strawman fallacy.
	asked on Monday, May 25, 2020 10:02:07 AM by Jason Mathias
Top Categories Suggested by Community
Comments

Want to get notified of all questions as they are asked? Update your mail preferences and turn on "Instant Notification."

Master the "Rules of Reason" for Making and Evaluating Claims

Claims are constantly being made, many of which are confusing, ambiguous, too general to be of value, exaggerated, unfalsifiable, and suggest a dichotomy when no such dichotomy exists. Good critical thinking requires a thorough understanding of the claim before attempting to determine its veracity. Good communication requires the ability to make clear, precise, explicit claims, or “strong” claims. The rules of reason in this book provide the framework for obtaining this understanding and ability.

This book / online course is about the the eleven rules of reason for making and evaluating claims. Each covered in detail in the book.

Take the Online Course

Answers

Bo Bennett, PhD

Person 1: Wow, did you come up with that all by yourself? You are stupid, I'm amazed how some people think they are so smart but have no idea what's really going on in the world. You think you are so smart and you believe you are always right. You are a stupid douche bag.

Just a rant, opinion, or unsupported claim.

Person 2: You are trying to make the argument that an intelligent person must be stupid. Just think about that for a minute.

Actually, person 1 did not do that. They said person 2 THINKS they are smart, but they are not.

Also, I never claimed that which makes this a Strawman Fallacy. It’s you who believes that I must believe I’m always right, not me.

This is a valid criticism.

Person 2: I never said an intelligent person was stupid now you are committing a strawman fallacy.

They are right as well. Strawmen everywhere!

answered on Monday, May 25, 2020 11:03:49 AM by Bo Bennett, PhD

Bo Bennett, PhD Suggested These Categories

Comments

Jason Mathias writes:

What about this one?

Person 1, commits a logical fallacy.

Person 2, gives the fallacy by name with the source.

Person 1, Therefore concludes with no evidence what so ever that person 2 must be a stupid closed minded egotistical douche bag.

Person 2, looses their composure and commits a fallacy in response.

Person 1, Then uses that fallacy to dismiss Person 2's entire argument which was actually valid before the strawman response which was caused by the loss of composure by the ad-hominems.

posted on Monday, May 25, 2020 11:41:58 AM

	1	Bo Bennett, PhD writes: [To Jason Mathias ] that is an example of the Argument from Fallacy
		[ login to reply ] posted on Monday, May 25, 2020 11:45:01 AM

	0	Bryan writes: [To Jason Mathias ] Again assuming person 2 in the last comment is supposed to be person 1, there's no dismissal of the original argument, it only highlights the straw man.
		[ login to reply ] posted on Monday, May 25, 2020 11:52:26 AM

Bryan

"Person 2: You are trying to make the argument that an intelligent person must be stupid."

I assume this refers to:

" You think you are so smart and you believe you are always right. You are a stupid douche bag."

If so, that does not say you are smart, and thus says nothing about someone being intelligent. Furthermore, it doesn't say anything about "must be dumb" but rather concludes that someone is dumb (whether or not that conclusion was warranted).

"Also, I never claimed that which makes this a Strawman Fallacy."

Again I'm not too clear what this refers to, if it's that person 2 thinks they are intelligent, then that wasn't presented as a person 2 claiming to be intelligent but rather that person 1 has inferred this to be the case. Of course nobody should ever tell anyone what they think; I don't think it's a fallacy, just stupid and arrogant.

Should person 2 at the end be person 1? They are correct in calling straw man if I followed correctly.

Also person 1's first reply is entirely ad hominem, so the straw man would appear to make the title correct.

answered on Monday, May 25, 2020 11:17:57 AM by Bryan

Bryan Suggested These Categories