Episode 61: Appeal to the Consequences of a Belief
Hey what’s up guys! We are back!! WooHoo!!
I took a break over the summer that ended up being a little longer than I had anticipated, but I’ve been itching to get back to the podcast, and here we are!
Not only are we back, but I have some really great news to share with you all!
First, We hit over 60,000 downloads over the summer!! This blew me away b/c normally when a show takes a break, their listens & downloads drop severely. But that hasn’t happened with this podcast! Word had continued to get out and it has continued to get downloads and new listeners even when I wasn’t producing any new episodes. This is sort of mind-blowing to me, but I’m so thankful…to me it means that people KNOW this is an important topic and are interested in learning more, which makes me super happy.
Secondly, I was interviewed on several podcasts over the summer, which may be part of the reason we continued to have new listeners. I had set a goal of being interviewed on 10 podcasts by the end of this year and so far I’ve been on 6, so I’m hoping to get at least 4 more before the end of the year. If you know anyone who has a podcast that I might be a good fit for, I’d love to have you connect me! Just shoot me an email at [email protected] or message me on Instagram. I also got to speak at a homeschool conference over the summer as well as a local Turning Point USA Faith event here where we live. I love sharing the message that we can learn to think WELL & recognize ridiculousness when we see it!
Thirdly,…the Filter It Through a Brain Cell podcast has a sponsor! Yay!! Y’all, as a podcaster, it’s a HUGE deal to get a sponsor to help support what we do and I’m so, so grateful to Classical Conversations for sponsoring this show! And it was an easy ‘Yes’ for me b/c Classical Conversations is the homeschool program that we’ve been using for 11 years now, and it’s where I learned about the logical fallacies! If you’re interested in homeschooling but aren’t quite sure how, Classical Conversations offers a proven program built around local communities of families all walking the same path together. Learn why over 45,000 families trust CC with their homeschooling journey by visiting classicalconversations.com/gibbens. (yes, I have my own link and everything!) Our family has loved this program and I’m so happy to share it with you!
And, fourthly, I was able to interview Elizabeth Urbanowicz for the podcast, which is dropping this week. If you know who she is, you’re already super excited to listen, and if you don’t know who she is, you’re going to thoroughly enjoy the episode as we dive into the question of What is Truth? Can we know Truth? How do we discern truth from feelings? And she has a special message for both parents & teens who are navigating a world that’s full of relativism and says that there is no absolute truth. I can’t wait for you to hear it!
Ok, let’s dive into today’s fallacy! We’re going to be talking about the Appeal to the Consequences of a Belief.
As I’ve discussed in previous episodes, there are a lot of fallacies that fall under the banner of being an Appeal: Appeal to Fear, Appeal to Technology, Appeal to Pity, etc… They all do similar things, but they each have nuances, too. So today we’re going to talk about the Appeal to the Consequences of a Belief b/c we see this happening a lot in society around us!
So, first, let’s define what it is. An Appeal to the Consequences of a Belief happens when someone says that an idea or a belief must be true b/c if people don’t accept it as being true, then there would be negative consequences. Or, they could argue that something must be false, b/c if people don’t accept it as being false, then there will be negative consequences. It’s a type of emotional appeal that says something must be true or false based on how desirable the outcome of the idea would feel.
I know, that feels a little nebulous, so let me give you a simple, rather silly example to make it more clear. “Heaven must be full of adorable puppies & kittens b/c I would NOT want to spend eternity in a place with no puppies or kittens.” Do you see the error there? Just because I would really LIKE the consequences of my idea doesn’t actually mean it’s true.
Or how about this one: “Colorado is a terrible place to go in the winter b/c there’s snow and people would get way too cold”. Ok, so cold may be one of the consequences of going to Colorado in the winter, but does that mean that Colorado is a terrible place to go in the winter? No, not at all! I live here and it’s amazing, we just wear appropriate clothes and we go snowboarding, snowshoeing, hiking…there’s a ton of fun activities to do in the winter.
The problem with the thinking here is that the desirability or un-desirability of the consequences of an idea or belief have no bearing on whether the idea or belief is actually true or false. Just because puppies in heaven would make me really happen doesn’t actually make it true that there are going to be puppies in heaven!
Here’s a few more examples of the Appeal to Consequences of a Belief:
“I just don't believe that my friend lied to me, because if she did, our friendship would be over, and I am not ready for it to be over.” Do you see the problem? Just b/c you don’t want the consequence of the friendship to end doesn’t mean your friend *didn’t* lie to you.
Or, how about this one: “Hillary Clinton is not a criminal. I mean, if she were a criminal, then the American people have chosen a criminal to run in a presidential election.” Ok, so you have to stop and ask yourself if that’s really the thing that would determine whether or not she was a criminal.
So, if you think you’re facing an Appeal to the Consequences of a Belief, the question to ask yourself is this: “Just because we might like the outcome, does that mean it’s actually true?” or to put it another way: “Just because we don’t like the outcome, does that mean it’s actually false?”
Ok, join me in the next episode to hear my interview with Elizabeth Urbanowicz…I promise you won’t be disappointed!
Remember: When you learn HOW to think, you will no longer fall prey to those who are trying to tell you what THEY want you to think and it all starts with asking one simple question: “Is that really true?”
