Association Fallacy: Difference between revisions

 

:: Claiming a quality of one thing is also a quality of another thing because they have some other thing in common, e.g. "Water is a liquid. Water will put out most fires. Therefore, any liquid will put out most fires." And then you pour on the olive oil. Or the high-proof vodka.

* Sweeping Generalization

 

 

{{examples}}

Because Jesus is Good, Jesus only does and associates with Good things (again, [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment|there are flaws in the logic best left alone]])

Ergo, because alcohol is Bad, Jesus never partook of it. }}

 

:: A very common form of Guilt by Association is "Hitler did it, therefore it's bad." While persuasive, it's not always true, since while Hitler did a lot of evil things, he also was a massive advocate of animal rights (well, definitely more so than Jewish, gay, or Gypsy rights...), built motorways, painted pictures, hosted the Olympics, [[Hitler Ate Sugar|ate sugar]], and breathed oxygen. This is related to the Fallacy of Division, since it assumes the evilness of the whole of Hitler also applies to any part of Hitler. Related to [[Godwin's Law]] and [[Hitler Ate Sugar]].

 

 

== Honor by Association ==

 

{{examples}}

* One Usenet poster who claims "we should all become vegetarian" claims in his sig that "Jesus was a vegetarian". His reasoning: vegetarianism is good; Jesus was good; therefore Jesus must have been a vegetarian. Which assumes that vegetarianism is "Good" by all standards and values of those who hold that Jesus Christ was good '''and''' that Jesus is believed to be "Good" by everyone.

** Other people use a somewhat more complicated, but just as fallacious version of this argument: Because Jesus's teachings and behaviors were most in line with the Essene sect, Jesus must have been an Essene, and because the Essenes were mostly vegetarian (pescatarian, actually, but they leave out that part), Jesus must have been vegetarian and because Jesus is good, the vegetarianism is good and would therefore hate killing animals as much as they do. (Never mind that the Essenes weren't vegetarian out of compassion for animals, but rather because they believed anything created from sexual union was treif, but that fish spawned via abiogenesis in the waters and were therefore kosher. Of course that part gets left out, too.)

** Some sects of Christianity that preach teetotalitarianism apply a similar fallacy to alcohol. They feel alcohol is bad, and Jesus was purest good, so he naturally would not have done anything bad. Therefore he would not have partaken of alcohol. Therefore, the same word is translated as "unfermented grape juice" in instances where it's being partaken of or otherwise addressed positively, and "wine" when speaking against the dangers of excessive drinking in their editions of the Bible. This is pretty much entirely nonsensical; grape skins are coated in yeast, and therefore keeping grape juice from fermenting with period technology is impossible. You pretty much had to own a vineyard to get fresh grape juice in those days, as the alcohol produced by fermentation was necessary to prevent spoilage.<ref>There is one occasion where the change fits; at the party, when Jesus turns water into wine. One of the guests comments on what good wine it is, but it suddenly becomes even more impressive if he's gone to the trouble and expense of getting fresh-squeezed grape juice.</ref>

 

=== Looks like this fallacy but is not ===

[[Category:Logical Fallacies]]

[[Category:Association Fallacy]]