Register | Sign In


Understanding through Discussion


EvC Forum active members: 59 (9164 total)
3 online now:
Newest Member: ChatGPT
Post Volume: Total: 916,929 Year: 4,186/9,624 Month: 1,057/974 Week: 16/368 Day: 16/11 Hour: 0/0


Thread  Details

Email This Thread
Newer Topic | Older Topic
  
Author Topic:   What is a Strawman?
:æ: 
Suspended Member (Idle past 7216 days)
Posts: 423
Joined: 07-23-2003


Message 3 of 9 (80307)
01-23-2004 12:03 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by NosyNed
01-23-2004 11:08 AM


The theory of evolution says that all the monkeys turned into people.
Since there are still monkeys around, the theory must be wrong.
Therefore evolution is false.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by NosyNed, posted 01-23-2004 11:08 AM NosyNed has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 4 by Phat, posted 01-23-2004 12:52 PM :æ: has replied

  
:æ: 
Suspended Member (Idle past 7216 days)
Posts: 423
Joined: 07-23-2003


Message 7 of 9 (80325)
01-23-2004 1:43 PM
Reply to: Message 4 by Phat
01-23-2004 12:52 PM


Re: Strawberry fields medals forever
Phatboy writes:
I guess that by definition, a "strawman" is an argument based on a faulty foundation.
In my example, the strawman was in the first line where I claim that the theory of evolution states that all monkeys turned into people. That is in fact false, the theory of evolution says no such thing. Therefore my argument which concludes that the theory of evolution is false because monkeys are still around is based on attacking something else that is NOT the real theory of evolution. It's attacking a strawman.
Another example:
Person A's position: Morals are subjective.
Person B's response: Person A doesn't have any morals! Therefore he/she is wrong.
This is a combination fallacy of attacking a strawman, and ad hominem or attacking the person. It is not the case that Person A is without morals, it is simply the case that this Person A doesn't believe them to be objectively true. Furthermore, whether or not Person A has morals is irrelevant to the truth or falsity of Person A's actual claim.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 4 by Phat, posted 01-23-2004 12:52 PM Phat has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 8 by NosyNed, posted 01-23-2004 2:49 PM :æ: has replied

  
:æ: 
Suspended Member (Idle past 7216 days)
Posts: 423
Joined: 07-23-2003


Message 9 of 9 (80352)
01-23-2004 3:07 PM
Reply to: Message 8 by NosyNed
01-23-2004 2:49 PM


Re: good answers - wrong posters
Sorry Ned, but I guess I sorted doubted that Philip would actually follow through with a demonstration of his notion of the Strawman concept, andm so I opted to simply demonstrate plainly what a real strawman is.
I know that it probably could have been a better learning experience for Philip if we had allowed him to trot out his erroneous conception of this fallacy and then ripped it to shreds, but it just seemed to me that the mere initiation of a thread dedicated to that end seems like a trap. I was betting that Philip would have been wise enough to dodge the thread rather than humiliating himself by laying his ignorance bare.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 8 by NosyNed, posted 01-23-2004 2:49 PM NosyNed has not replied

  
Newer Topic | Older Topic
Jump to:


Copyright 2001-2023 by EvC Forum, All Rights Reserved

™ Version 4.2
Innovative software from Qwixotic © 2024