Question

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Sing

Fault Finding

I guess that fault finding should be a kind of fallacy.  It goes like this.

Tom goes out side.

Mom: It is a bad decision, because you may get Covid-19.

Tom stays home.

Mom: it is a bad decision, because you should have some fresh air.

It's always wrong no matter what Tom does.

Is that correct that it's a fallacy? What is its name? How to handle it?

Thanks a lot.

asked on Tuesday, May 03, 2022 12:55:00 PM by Sing

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Answers

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Bo Bennett, PhD
4

This sounds like Double Bind. Not really a fallacy.
answered on Tuesday, May 03, 2022 01:15:11 PM by Bo Bennett, PhD

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TrappedPrior (RotE) writes:

Could it be classified, in the context of an argument, as a rhetoric technique?

I remember watching an example from a YouTube video, and it goes as follows:

Person 1: *talking*

Person 2:  *tries to interrupt*

Person 1:  Do you plan to let me finish, or keep butting in?

Now person 2 is "bound", as the video put it. Either they let person 1 finish or they keep yapping about something else. Either way, they've done what person 1 suggested they do.

I'm not 100% convinced by this example, but...

posted on Tuesday, May 03, 2022 02:16:22 PM
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Bo Bennett, PhD writes:
[To Rationalissimus of the Elenchus]

Sure. Similar to gaslighting .

[ login to reply ] posted on Tuesday, May 03, 2022 02:34:41 PM
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Sing writes:

Thank you so much. Your comments are very helpful.

posted on Wednesday, May 04, 2022 11:06:50 PM
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Arlo
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I don't see a logical fallacy at all, except perhaps cherry picking by choosing alternate reasons for supporting opposing positions.

I'm not sure Mom's logic is bad – it seems that she's more inclined to find fault than be supportive.  (I suspect Mom isn't the only one highly skilled in seeing the down side of things.)

Mom correctly identifies at least one risk associated with each option and then stops short of actually assessing and comparing those risks (catching COVID from being out in public vs. being unhealthy from lacking fresh air).  She does have a point in each situation; however, just because there's some degree of risk associated with a particular option doesn't mean that risk is too great to accept.

I might be able to criticize Mom for a number of things ... just not for bad logic.
answered on Wednesday, May 04, 2022 10:18:25 AM by Arlo

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Sing writes:

Thank you very much. This is very helpful.  

posted on Wednesday, May 04, 2022 11:11:48 PM
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Dr. Richard
1

This is a Linguistic Presupposition, like when did you stop beating your wife? When faced with such a situation, I found that giving the person an all-knowing smile, and saying: “Why do you think I used to beat my wife?”

This puts the onus, the burden of proof, back on the one who made the pronouncement. 

answered on Wednesday, May 04, 2022 07:45:55 AM by Dr. Richard

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Sing writes:

Thank you very much. I can see how to handle it.

posted on Wednesday, May 04, 2022 11:08:49 PM