Hey what’s up Thinkers! Kathy Gibbens here…
Welcome back to another episode of the Filter It Through a Brain Cell podcast, where you get a little harder to fool every time you listen, and hopefully you also get a little smarter with each episode, too! If you’re a new listener, I want to invite you to do 2 things: first of all, I’d invite you to go back and start listening to this podcast with episode 1. Obviously, you can choose to listen in any order you’d like, but it does kind of build on earlier episodes as I go through the season, so it may give you a really good foundation to start at the beginning. Secondly, I’d like to invite you to take my free quiz! I have a quiz with 10 memes where you can see if you can name the fallacy in those 10 memes! If you want to check it out, just go to filteritthroughabraincell.com/quiz, and see how you do!
I’d love to share a review that a listener recently left for the podcast, this one is by Sarah R. She says, “This podcast is so fun to listen to and so practical and helpful! I’ve been learning a lot, so thank you!!” Ok, yay! Sarah, thanks so much for listening and for taking the time to leave a review! I read all the reviews that folks leave and it really means a lot to me. I love hearing how the podcast is helping you. So, if you haven’t yet, would you mind taking just a minute to leave a review wherever you listen?
I want to say thank you to one of this show’s sponsors, CTC Math. Have you ever wondered how your child is doing as they progress through their math journey? CTC Math is an online program that adjusts to meet your child’s growth, and they give you extensive reports to help you know right where they’re at. It’s a clear roadmap of their journey and it’s all done for you. Check out ctcmath.com and keep track of your child's math success.
Alright, let’s dive into today’s new fallacy, the Appeal to Definition Fallacy. The Appeal to Definition fallacy happens when someone appeals to a very specific or limited definition of a word as given in a dictionary and uses that definition in a problematic way to make their argument.
Here’s a simple example of what this fallacy can sound like: You’re sitting in a restaurant with your Grandma who is always cold. Grandma says, “Brr, it’s freezing in here!” To which your annoying, know-it-all cousin replies, “Well, according to the dictionary, freezing means it’s below 32 degrees and it’s not below 32 degrees in here, so it’s clearly not freezing.” Ok, after you all roll your eyes at his comment, you can see how he’s committing the Appeal to Definition fallacy. He’s using a strict dictionary definition to apply to a situation where a word is used to mean something different in everyday language. And he’s using this definition to try to make a specific point, in this case, he’s just being a smart alec.
This fallacy is a tricky one. Those of you who are members of my Crazy Thinkers program know that one of the first steps to thinking well is to define your terms. If you’ve ever done formal debate, you’ll know that one of the first things you have to do is to agree upon the definitions of key words. It’s almost impossible to communicate with someone if you don’t agree on the definition of the words you’re using and all kinds of arguments can come from failing to do so, or from using words improperly. So, hear me when I tell you that simply defining your terms or looking up the meaning of words in a dictionary isn’t a fallacy. It can, however, become a fallacy when someone finds a narrow, limited definition of a particular word that doesn’t fully account for the broader way a word is commonly used in society and they form their argument based off of that. The problem behind the thinking here is that they’re not taking into account the way the usage of the word has changed or the way it’s being used in culture.
Another way to think of the Appeal to Definition fallacy is to think of the difference between a dictionary and an encyclopedia. If you look up the definition of ‘dog’ in the dictionary, you’ll get a few sentences that give a general idea of waht a dog is. But, if you look up ‘dog’ in an encyclopedia, you’ll get pages and pages of information that go into way more details about dogs and what they’re like, where they live, where they’re from, waht they do, the different breeds, etc. Would it make sense for me to argue with you that we can’t say that dogs have canine teeth because the dictionary doesn’t say that they do? No, of course not. That fact is still true of dogs, even if the dictionary doesn’t say it. Just because the definition in the dictionary only gives a limited description of the word ‘dog’, it doesn’t mean the other things about dogs aren’t also true.
Now, hear me well on this - definitions matter. Especially in a day & age where people & groups are trying to redefine words to mean something completely different in order to suit their particular agenda. So here’s another example of what could almost be a reverse to the Appeal to Definition. There has been a movement in our culture the past few years to redefine some very basic words: man and woman. Words that have been defined a very specific way since literally the beginning of the world. Rather than a woman being defined as an ‘adult female human’, there are certain groups who are saying that we can’t define the word woman. That it can mean whatever you want it to mean. That you can define it based off of a feeling or an idea. But the first, second and third order affects of changing the definition of this word are huge. Huge…more than I can get into in this podcast episode. So, I do believe there are instances where maintaining the integrity of a definition does matter and someone trying to change it to suit an agenda is Equivocating in trying to change it. What do you think?
So, the question to ask yourself if you think you’re facing an Appeal to Definition Fallacy is this: “Is that the only thing that word can mean?” *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?”
