please empty your brain below
Social media argument/discussion logic to a 't'. It is ignorance of these principles combined with a wider ignorance of facts that has led us to the current mess (internal machinations of the Tories since 1970 notwithstanding).

Burntweenie | 05.04.19 - 7:11 a.m. | #

In addition, two completely contradictory positions can of course be held at the same time--our old friend cognitive dissonance, although sometimes holding two contradictory opinions often isn't as painful as the definition of it would suggest.

Jonathan | 05.04.19 - 7:17 a.m. | #

The first 24 may all be valid, but every single one is unsound (on at least two grounds, one of which might be controversial).

Sarah | Homepage | 05.04.19 - 7:19 a.m. | #

I remember as a boy being fascinated by the examples in the back of the collected Lewis Carroll we had.

You ended up with true but absurd conclusions such as "no rainbow can bear the weight of a wheelbarrow".

This seems to be what I remember.

Nick Atty | Homepage | 05.04.19 - 7:25 a.m. | #

Visited for the kittens, stayed for the logic.

MS | 05.04.19 - 8:07 a.m. | #

This post is sponsored by lawyers4you.

False arguments have always been rife, it's just that with social media we are now widely aware of them, whereas previously you had to go the pub, hang around in the park or go to church.

Social media also gives everything the same gloss, so the message that the MMR vaccine gives your children autism, is given the same level of presentation as the one that the MMR vaccine is safe.

Finally the human mind is what it is, it requires effort to think, prejudice is always there - for example when they did blind auditions for musicians, they found that women still weren't being selected, then they realised that the panel could hear their high heels when they walked in.

Still Anon | 05.04.19 - 8:17 a.m. | #

What is a monster?
Does the statement refer to 'behaves like a monster' or 'is a monster' (see above)?
What behaviour is monsterish?

Who believes cats/kittens are monsters?

Belief.....ahhhh, there's that whole kettle of fish.

B | 05.04.19 - 9:07 a.m. | #

Reminds me of the "We've found a witch, can we burn her?" segment in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Mike | 05.04.19 - 9:14 a.m. | #

Lewis Carroll had great fun with his elaborate system of symbolic logic. "If it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic." LC

ActonMan | 05.04.19 - 9:43 a.m. | #

Kittens!!! But where are the pictures??

Cornish Cockney | 05.04.19 - 10:07 a.m. | #

I can see at least three examples where the conclusion of "some" could be "all".

I suppose that is technically correct as "some" is a subset of "all", but is not as specific as it could be.

An example could be "some squares are rectangles". True, but suggests some might not be.

dg writes: Five of the 24 are 'weakened moods', meaning the minor term is distributed in the premise but undistributed in the conclusion (i.e. it's possible to draw a stronger conclusion).

kev | 05.04.19 - 10:46 a.m. | #

Say what now?

Milo | 05.04.19 - 10:54 a.m. | #

Finally another kitten post! There are of course other animals whose young are referred to as kittens but I do think this post would be better for having some illustrations for each point.

Debster | 05.04.19 - 11:38 a.m. | #

Whatever you are trying to say, some people should understand that there are always "idiots" who (deliberately or not) facilitate or even support jerks who damage the society, possibly because they feel left alone (in a negative sense), or worse, are greedy jerks themselves. If you cannot accept them, change them or defeat them, your suffering is somewhat justified.

Patrickov | 05.04.19 - 12:39 p.m. | #

A cat can be a monster and not a monster at the same time - Schrodinger.

(I nearly typed "mouser" there...…..)

timbo | 05.04.19 - 12:49 p.m. | #

A misunderstanding of syllogism led to a hostile stare- out on Daily Politics recently between two panellists, one of whom thought that when the other said that all X’s voted for Y he meant all who voted for Y are X’s

Keith | 05.04.19 - 1:42 p.m. | #

...more over-educated nonsense ...no wonder the country is in a mess.

Grumpy Anon | 05.04.19 - 2:26 p.m. | #

The green ones are three times the same premises. Probably the "All monsters are ..." version is missing.

dg writes: All the conclusions are different.

MK | 05.04.19 - 2:26 p.m. | #

kittens, kittens, cats ... yay !!

Caz | 05.04.19 - 3:52 p.m. | #

Lewis Carroll had his own kitten-based logic puzzle:
"No kitten, that loves fish, is unteachable.
No kitten without a tail will play with a gorilla;
Kittens with whiskers always love fish;
No teachable kitten has green eyes;
No kittens have tails unless they have whiskers."
..therefore..
"No kitten with green eyes will play with a gorilla."

ActonMan | 05.04.19 - 4:09 p.m. | #

All statements should follow the rules of logic.
Some utterances are statements.

From this we can NOT deduce that all utterances should follow the rules of logic.

Kittens' mews are not statements, they are attempts to affect the behaviour of their mothers or of their mothers' "owners".

Malcolm | 05.04.19 - 8:09 p.m. | #

The Some/No examples may be confusing, as they are intended to give answers which are true given that “Some cats are kittens” regardless of whether also (as is assumed in the previous sections) “All kittens are cats”. Of course, if you accept that a baby rabbit, say, is a “kitten”, then the limits of what can be inferred about kittens are confirmed.

Rich G | Homepage | 05.04.19 - 11:44 p.m. | #

Worth bearing in mind too that clever and articulate people may be as capable of deceiving others or themselves with logic as those who admit confusion.

Rich G | Homepage | 05.04.19 - 11:49 p.m. | #

Brian O’Nolan once wrote (though whether as Flann O’Brien or Myles na gCopaleen, I cannot remember) that the correct response to “in vino veritas” is as follows:

Your syllogism is fallacious, being based on licensed premises.

Ronnie MB | Homepage | 06.04.19 - 9:54 a.m. | #











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