Persuasion / Tu Quoque Fallacies
Persuasion.
I remember an occasion when I went on a canoeing trip with my friend David from high school. David is the sort of person who always totally speaks his mind about anything -- he is not shy about commenting (often in an almost abrasive manner) on the person you are dating, or the clothes you are wearing, or anything else that happens to pop into his mind. He organized several people from our high school to go on a river canoeing trip, mostly because it would be a good way to spend time together, and get some exercise which would not be too taxing. We went to a canoe rental place, and paid to do a 4-hour trip along an easily navigable creek: there was nothing dangerous about the canoeing part of it, the water would rarely be deeper than four feet, and there would be no chance of drowning and no rapids or anything (although we were given life-jackets). So about six of us who had been in high school together packed a picnic lunch and decided to do this as a fun activity.
The trip was fun, and relatively uneventful. We did capsize once or twice, but we had packed our lunches in plastic bags, so we were able to find a grassy area on the bank and have a picnic without having to eat wet sandwiches. The point of the story came a day or two after the trip. I met up with David again, and he pointed to my leg. "Did you get hurt when the canoe capsized?" he asked. I looked down and there was a smallish round welt or rash just above my shin, which I had not actually noticed. I told David that I didn't think I had, and I started examining the red circle on my calf -- it did not hurt, so it could not have been a bruise or a scrape. David, who is a fairly brash person, said "That's a circular rash, it's probably Lyme Disease." I was skeptical and he said, "Look, why would I make this up? We just went on a canoeing trip through the woods. That's the kind of place where people get bitten by ticks and get Lyme Disease. Get it checked out."
The truth is that I thought David -- who likes saying brash things to get a reaction from people -- was probably deliberately winding me up. The evidence of a red mark on my leg didn't seem like it could be a serious illness. Despite the fact that he was being serious, and he had nothing invested in whether or not I went to a doctor to have my leg looked at, I assumed it was probably a mosquito bite and my outspoken friend was just joking. In fact, I forgot about it until sometime a few weeks later, I started feeling agonizing pain in my joints. At this point I went on Google -- despite the fact that the pain was sudden and extreme, and it was very difficult to move or type -- and looked up Lyme Disease. I immediately made a doctor's appointment and when I went in, a blood test confirmed that David was, in fact, right -- I did have Lyme Disease, and was promptly put on antibiotics. After several weeks the infection went away, and the doctor declared I was clear.
The fact is that the evidence presented to me seemed relatively insignificant. And the person giving me the advice had nothing invested in the situation, but was also someone with a history of saying blunt and provocative things. Then again, it was David who had organized the outdoor canoe trip, and it might have been in his mind -- or he might have been warned by his parents or someone else -- that outdoors activities in the woods carry a risk of being exposed to the ticks that carry the Lyme Disease. But in retrospect, I wish...
According to Halpern (1996, p. 197), arguments that utilize irrelevant reasons are fairly common: "The Latin word for this sort of fallacy is non-sequitur, which literally translates to 'it doesn't follow.' In other words, the reason or premise is unrelated to the conclusion." Since relevant premises are a key criteria for building sound arguments, it follows that critical thinkers must learn to recognize and avoid such fallacies. However, in the
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