Hey what’s up Thinkers! Kathy Gibbens here…
Let’s start off with a quick review of a fallacy we covered earlier this season: The Appeal to Spite. An Appeal to Spite happens when someone uses the emotion of spite to discredit an argument, rather than using a legitimate argument or rebuttal. Spite is a malicious, usually petty, desire to harm, annoy, frustrate, or humiliate another person. So an Appeal to Spite happens when someone tries to make you feel angry or annoyed at another person so that you will reject or ignore their argument.
So, the question to ask yourself if you think you’re facing an Appeal to Spite fallacy is this: “Is that really a valid reason to disregard what they’re saying?”
If you want to review or hear more about this fallacy, go back & check out Episode 91.
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Alright, let’s dive into today’s new fallacy, the What’s the Harm Fallacy. The What’s the Harm Fallacy happens when someone argues that an action or belief is acceptable or justifiable because it doesn't cause any harm.
Here’s a super simple example: Let’s say you have a cousin named Caleb and Caleb is trying to get you to skip school to go to the mall with him. He says, “What’s the harm in skipping school just this once? It’s not hurting anyone else!” Ok, can you see the fallacy? Just because this decision isn’t directly affecting any other students doesn’t mean it’s a good idea! This argument ignores the potential harm that could result from missing school, such as falling behind in your classes, lower grades, and getting in trouble for lying to your teachers & parents. Turns out there could be lots of harm in this decision!
Another ‘what’s the harm’ example would be littering. Let’s say you’re at the beach with a group of friends and one of them throws some trash on the ground and says, ‘What’s the harm in a few pieces of trash being here? It’s just a little and besides, it’s not hurting anyone’. However, this argument ignores the potential harm that could result from littering, such as harming wildlife, damaging the beauty of the beach, or inconveniencing the personnel who have to come along behind and clean up the mess.
The What’s the Harm Fallacy is a type of an Emotional Appeal. It’s an attempt to get you to be more open & accepting of a certain idea or action without questioning whether it’s a good idea or if it’s even helpful.
The problem behind the thinking in a What’s the Harm Fallacy is twofold: 1. It doesn’t consider other relevant factors or consequences. For instance, let’s say someone is having some weird physical symptoms. A friend who’s into essential oils comes by and gives them a few oils to try because, what’s the harm in trying? Well, there may be no harm in trying essential oils, but the harm could come if the person doesn’t consider that there could be something deeper causing their physical symptoms. Maybe they have a really serious condition causing their symptoms that essential oils aren’t designed to treat.
The other problem behind the What’s the Harm fallacy is that Harmlessness isn’t proof that something works! There could be LOTS of things that are harmless in any particular situation, but that’s not proof that they’re helpful either!
Here’s another example of the What’s the Harm fallacy: A group that’s trying to legalize a certain drug for recreational use will ask, “What’s the harm in recreational drug use? It’s not affecting anyone other than the person using it!” Ok, maybe, but this argument ignores the potential harm that drug use can cause to the individual, such as addiction, physical harm, and it also ignores the second & third effects that a person’s drug use can have on others around them.
Question to ask yourself if you think you’re facing a What’s the Harm Fallacy is this: “It may not hurt, but is there any proof that it’ll help?” *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: “Is that really true?”
