Fallacies – R-S
Commonplace Book – 136-137
Redefinition: It is not necessarily fallacious to give a term a new meaning, but it is a logical boobytrap. There is always a danger of slipping back into using the term in its old meaning out of habit, which could cause a fallacy of equivocation.
Regression Fallacy: The result of a statistical phenomenon known as ‘regression to the mean.’ That is, the tendency of a variable characteristic in a population to move away from the extreme values towards the mean.
Scope Fallacy: A technical notion. Such as, ‘all that glitters is not gold.’ In a narrow scope, the ‘not’ can mean ‘all that glitters is non-gold.’ In a broad scope, the ‘not’ can mean ‘all that glitters is not always gold.’
Some Are / Some Are Not: The mistake of confusing logical implication and conversational implicature by thinking that ‘some are’ statements logically imply ‘some are not’ statements, when the former statements only conversationally implicate the latter.
Special Pleading: Occurs when someone argues that a case is an exception to a rule based upon an irrelevant characteristic that does not define an exception. People often apply a ‘double standard’, which makes an exception to the rule for themselves – or people like them – but applies it to others.
Straw Man Fallacy: When the arguer is attempting to refute his opponent’s position by attacking a position not held by his opponent.
Syllogistic Fallacy: Any non-validating form of categorical syllogism.
“Greensleeves” by Anonymous
Commonplace Book – Pages 134-136
Alas, my love, you do me wrong, To cast me off discourteously
2: I have been ready at your hand, To grant whatever you would crave,
3: I bought thee kerchers to thy head, That were wrought fine and gallantly
4: I bought thee petticoats of the best, The cloth so fine as might be;
5: Thy smock of silk, both fair and white, With gold embroidered gorgeously;
And I have lov-ed you so long, Delighting in your companie. – (chorus)
2: I have both waged life and land, Your love and good-will for to have. – (chorus)
3: I kept thee both boored and bed, Which cost my purse well favoredly – (chorus)
4: I gave thee jewels for thy chest, And all this cost I spent on thee. – (chorus)
5: Thy petticoat of sendal right, And these I bought thee gladly – (chorus)
6: Thy girdle of gold so red, With pearles bedecked sumptuously;
7: Thy crimson stockings all of silk, With golds all wrought above the knee;
8: Thy gown was of the grossie green, Thy sleeves of satten hanging by,
9: Thy garters fringed with the golde, And silver aglets hanging by,
10: My gayest gelding I thee gave, To ride where ever I liked thee,
6: The like no other lasses had, And yet thou wouldst not love me – (chorus)
7: Thy pumps as white as was the milk, And yet thou wouldst not love me – (chorus)
8: Why made thee be our harvest Queen, And yet thou wouldst not love me – (chorus)
9: Which made thee blithe for to beholde, And yet thou wouldst not love me – (chorus)
10: No Ladie ever was so brave, And yet thou wouldst not love me – (chorus)
11: My men were clothed all in green, And they did ever wait on thee;
12: They set thee up, they took thee downe, They served thee with humilitie,
13: For everie morning when thou rose, I sent thee dainties orderly;
14: Thou couldst desire no earthly thing, But still thou hadst it readily;
15: And who did pay for all this geare, That though didst spend when pleased thee,
16: When will I pray to God on high, That thou my constantly mayst see,
17: Greensleeves, now farewell! Adieu! God I pray to prosper thee,
11: All this was gallant to be seen, And yet thou wouldst not love me – (chorus)
12: Thy foote might not once touch the ground, And yet thou wouldst not love me – (chorus)
13: To cheare thy stomack from all woes, And yet thou wouldst not love me – (chorus)
14: Thy musicks still to play and sing, And yet thou wouldst not love me – (chorus)
15: Even I that am rejected here, And though disdainst to love me. – (chorus)
16: And that yet once before I die, Thou wilt vouchsafe to love me? – (chorus)
17: For I am still thy lover true, Come once again and love me. – (chorus)
CHORUS
Greensleeves was all my joy, Greensleeves was my delight
Greensleeves was my heart of gold, And who but my Ladie Greensleeves
“You are Old, Father William” by Lewis Carroll
Commonplace Book – Pages 133-134
“You are old, father William,” the young man said,
“And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head-
Do you think, at your age, it is right?
“In my youth,” father William replied to his son,
“I feared it might injure the brain;
But now that I’m perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again.”
“You are old,” said the youth, “as I mentioned before,
And you have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door-
Pray what is the reason for that?”
“In my youth,” said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
“I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment – one shilling a box-
Allow me to sell you a couple?”
“You are old,” said the youth, “and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the break-
Pray, how did you manage to do it?”
“In my youth,” said the father, “I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life.”
“You are old,” said the youth, “one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose-
What made you so awfully clever?”
“I have answered three questions, and that is enough,”
Said the father. “Don’t give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I’ll kick you down stairs.”
“The Destruction of Sennacerib” by Lord Byron
Commonplace Book – Pages 132-133
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee
Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown
For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew still!
And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf
And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
With dew on his brow, and rust on his mail;
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown
And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!
