ļ»æHey whatās up Thinkers! Kathy Gibbens hereā¦
Letās start off todayās episode with a quick review of the Hasty Generalization Fallacy. The Hasty Generalization fallacy happens when you make an assumption about a group of things or people that is based on too small of a sample size. Itās when someone comes to a conclusion about a group of things or people but doesnāt have enough evidence to truly back it up.
The question to ask yourself to determine if you or someone else is making a Hasty Generalization fallacy is this: āJust because this one person is a certain way, does that really mean that all people like them are also that way?ā *or* āJust because this one thing is a certain way, does that really mean that all things like it are also that way?ā
If you want to hear more about this fallacy, check out Episode 38.
Are you enjoying the process of learning to think better as you listen to this podcast? Did you know thereās a whole curriculum that teaches kids to learn how to learn and to learn how to think? Did you know there are TOOLS of learning! Thatās what we do in Classical Conversations, the homeschool curriculum that we are a part of. We meet in community each week during the school year and together we learn to use the tools of learning to think well about each subject we study. If youād like to learn more, go fill out the form at classical conversations.com/gibbens. Youāll get more info on their program plus 2 free downloadable ebooks!
Ok, letās dive into todayās new fallacy: The Furtive Fallacy. Now, I think it might be helpful to start off by defining the word āfurtiveā. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as: doing something in a quiet and secretive way to avoid being noticed. It has connotations of being clandestine, conspiratorial and covert. Hey, that was good alliteration! So, the Furtive Fallacy happens when people conclude that outcomes are the result of the secret, ill intentions or wrong-doings of the decision makers involved.
Interestingly, the Furtive Fallacy first started in regards to history. Historian David Fischer first identified this fallacy among the works of certain other historians where they would portray historical figures in a certain way based on off-record conversations or and would make them seem like they had low morals and ulterior motives for the decisions they madeā¦whether there was any basis for these things or not. Inherent in this fallacy is the belief that negative events are never coincidenceā¦that thereās always a reason they happen and that the reason is that someone behind the scenes WANTED it to happen and put things in motion to cause it to happen.
Ok, thatās a lot to take in, so let me give you a quick example. A student who did poorly on a test says, āThe teacher wanted me to fail and purposely put hard questions on that test - itās not fair!ā Do you see the fallacy there? This student is assuming secretive, negative intent & actions on the part of the teacher, without knowing that itās really true! In reality, a more actual cause of her failing the test could be that she just didnāt study for it.
Hereās another example: There are people who believe that the Government is hiding a crashed alien spaceship in Area 51. And that the people who were in charge made the decision to hide the spaceship and lie to the world about it.
Now, people who believe in the alien spaceship in Area 51 are often called conspiracy theorists. And for sure, some conspiracy theories definitely fall under the Furtive Fallacyā¦but not all of them. Conspiracy theories typically just allow for the POSSIBILITY that there could be nefarious intent behind events, whereas people who commit the Furtive Fallacy are SURE that thereās bad intent & conspiracy behind them. You see the difference? I think thereās probably something to some of the conspiracy theories floating around out there, and some of them are downright ridiculous, but when they just hold space for the possibility of something, theyāre not full-blown Furtive Fallacies.
Whatās wrong with the thinking behind the Furtive Fallacy is that, without sufficient evidence, itās really just a guessā¦and in its most extreme form, it can become paranoia, where someone believes that nothing bad happens just by chance, but that thereās always someone with evil intent making decisions behind the scenes that leads to bad events & outcomes.
Now, the tricky thing with this fallacy is that there absolutely ARE and COULD BE decision-makers who are making decisions out of ill and even evil intent! We know this to be true b/c history has absolutely proven it to be so. The Holocaust is not a Fervent Fallacy b/c we know Hitler absolutely had evil intent and made decisions that harmed & killed millions of people. There are many, many examples through history & government where we know these kinds of things have happened. And, to be honest, there are probably a lot of other examples of this that we just donāt know about yetā¦but that doesnāt mean each one you hear about is true.
Question to ask yourself: āIs there any proof that that person had bad intent & deliberately made decisions that would harm or deceive people?ā *repeat*
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: āIs that really true?ā
