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{{trope}}
{{quote|''A mind all logic is like a knife all blade; it makes the hand bleed that wields it.''
|'''Rabindranath Tagore'''}}
A [[The War On Straw|straw man]] used to show that emotion is better than logic.
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Because the author is more concerned with setting up their straw man than in handling logic correctly, they will often misuse and distort the concept to create contrived examples where what they're calling "logic" doesn't work. Common situations include:
* The '''Straw Vulcan''' will only accept a guaranteed success. A plan that only has a chance of success is not "logical", even if the chance is the highest possible. This is actually a well-known ''error'' in logic, called the [[Perfect Solution Fallacy]].
* The story assumes a "logical" plan is one where every step makes the goal visibly closer, and accepting a short-term disadvantage for a long-term advantage is not "logical". There's nothing inherently illogical in accepting a short-term set-back if it makes the long-term success more likely.
* The Straw Vulcan will be completely unable or unwilling to plan for unexpected and even illogical [[Viewer Myopia|behavior of other parties]].
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A Straw Vulcan (much like [[Star Trek]] Vulcan) often quickly slips from stating adherence to "logic" as opinion or personal principle to an obvious obsession or phobia. In which case the whole picture makes more sense (noticeably disturbed people are not considered best decision-makers or planners for a reason that generally they, indeed, aren't), but invalidates the mental experiment for purpose of making any other point.
Like most extremes, this one is vulnerable to [[Poe's Law]]; the pseudo-skeptics<ref>activists who passionately denounce as "unscientific" everything that disagrees with whichever Great Teaching they follow, while exercising no skepticism whatsoever toward the latter, even when its preachers fall into self-contradictions</ref> tend to act closest to the caricature image above, and Marxists traditionally are the most prone to be indistinguishable from a parody, but due to the way extreme movements develop, any group relying on claims of intellectual superiority to push its interests risks having its fringe caught in this.
See [[Dumb Is Good]], [[You Fail Logic Forever]], [[Giving Up on Logic]] and [[Unweaving the Rainbow]]. Compare [[Straw Hypocrite]]. The existence of this character means that the writer falls on the Romanticist side of [[Romanticism Versus Enlightenment]].Contrast to [[Emotions vs. Stoicism]]. [[Opposite Tropes]] to [[Strawman Emotional]].▼
{{examples}}▼
▲See [[Dumb Is Good]], [[You Fail Logic Forever]], [[Giving Up on Logic]] and [[Unweaving the Rainbow]]. Compare [[Straw Hypocrite]]. The existence of this character means that the writer falls on the Romanticist side of [[Romanticism Versus Enlightenment]]. Contrast to [[Emotions vs. Stoicism]]. [[Opposite Tropes]] to [[Strawman Emotional]].
== Anime & Manga ==▼
{{Noreallife|real people are not crafted for a specific purpose.}}
▲{{examples}}
* Rossiu in ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' touches on this after the time-skip; when the citizens are rioting over the destruction caused by {{spoiler|the Anti-Spirals}}, he tries to placate [[Dying Like Animals|the populace]] by having Simon arrested and scheduled for execution, since Simon is technically responsible for the actions that led to the villain's attacking them (even though everyone else did just as much) and caused a lot of property damage by destroying an enemy in a populated area. He also wants to have the Ganmen and Lagann destroyed because it's outdated technology, and tries to save humanity by having them hide underground or evacuate on a spaceship. When this turns out to be futile... Simon saves the day by kicking reason to the curb and breaking through the impossible. Because that's what the show's about, baby!
** It's played with, too, Rossiu is not criticized on-screen for his actions after the fact by anyone other than himself, everyone else in fact pats him on the back for doing what he thought was best and making a painfully hard decision.
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== Comic Books ==
* In ''[[Logicomix]]'', Ferge is totally honest and devoted to truth & logic. Sadly, this devotion combined with [[Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance]] leads to [[Black and White Insanity]] in the form of a Straw Vulcan despise for women and jews. On the whole, this make him a [[Troubled Sympathetic Bigot]] who is desperately trying to do the right thing.
* One of Brainiac 5's roles in the ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes]]'' is to be a Straw Vulcan for the more emotional superheroes, like Dream Girl and Bouncing Boy.
* Oddly enough, [[Averted Trope]] in the ''[[Transformers]]'' comics with regard to Shockwave. Shockwave is a cold, calculating Decepticon warrior who embraces pure logic... but his definition of logic ''is'', in fact correct - "the course of action with the highest possibility of victory." In the old Marvel Transformers comics, he once ceded leadership of the Decepticons to Megatron, convinced that Megatron's logic was superior.
** In IDW's recent comics, the trope is played with when he's confronted with the raw, animal fury of the Dynobots (known in most other continuities as the ''Dino''bots); his usual cold, calculating strategy was unable to stand up against their savage assault, and he decides to think like the enemy... and goes ''berserk'' simply to match their brutality pound-for-pound, allowing an emotion to become a factor in his logic. That emotion was ''rage'', and it served Shockwave well, winning him the fight. An unforeseen weapon on the Dynobots' ship incapacitated him by causing a volcanic eruption once he'd switched off his anger program, but note that he gave in to emotion ''simply because it was logical to leave cold reasoning behind and embrace fury''.
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* Used in the 2009 ''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek]]'' film (probably as an intentional [[Shout-Out]]) when Spock seeks to regroup with the rest of the surviving fleet, yet the seemingly invincible ''Narada'' is headed to destroy Earth; Kirk takes the opposing ''emotional'' side, notes the Earth will be doomed while the fleet rallies and opts to face the ''Narada'' in a head on, likely suicidal confrontation. This time, however, Spock is captain, and outranks Kirk. Later Kirk shows that Spock is emotionally ''compromised'' and takes command. In both instances we are talking about the young Spock from the alternate timeline created by the ''Narada'' at the beginning of the film.
** Both subverted and played out straight in ''[[Star Trek VI]]''. At one point Spock answers an appeal to logic from his protege Valeris by saying, "Logic, logic, logic. Logic is the beginning of wisdom, Valeris, not the end." During the remainder of the film, Spock is often telling outright lies or asking crewmembers to do so (acts that certainly go against what Vulcans traditionally consider logical) and describing the lies as "a miscommunication" and other euphemisms...anything but "a lie." But in the end, we find that {{spoiler|for reasons she considers "logical," Valeris has conspired to assassinate Klingon Chancellor Gorkon and frame Kirk for his murder. When she says she doesn't recall the names of her fellow conspirators, Spock asks, "A lie?" She replies, "A choice."}}
* I don't know that they use the word "logical," but the computer in ''[[
** Hmm. The message isn't so much that you can't win a nuclear war but that the ''correct'' move is not to "play the game" at all. At least that seems to be the Aesop. In any case, WOPPER's "logic" is sound and subverts the notion that one can rationally plan a nuclear war, so this may count as a subversion of the trope.
* Dr. Ellie Arroway in ''[[Contact (film)|Contact]]'' is a SETI researcher who argues that Occam's Razor makes it more likely that humans invented the idea of God rather than God creating the world without a shred of proof pointing to his existence. During the hearing in which Ellie claimed she had a trip through the Stargate and encountered an alien (when all the witnesses and recorded data indicates the Stargate was a complete failure and nothing happened), Occam's Razor is flung back in her face: is it more likely that she hallucinated the journey or that the aliens sent her through the Stargate without leaving a shred of proof? Ellie concedes this but refuses to withdraw her position because her experience was too monumental for humanity's future to dismiss on logic alone. '''The kicker:''' the Christian philosopher whose personal religious awakening she (politely) dismissed as a psychological phenomenon is the first person to believe her: not because [[If Jesus, Then Aliens]] but because [[Not So Different|they're both committed to the truth]]. She ultimately continues her SETI research in hopes of finding more signs of extra-terrestrial life, proving that (at least where aliens are concerned) faith and logic can coexist.
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*** This is actually a very logical course of action if you are willing to accept the consequences, one of Paul's [[Arc Words|maxims]] is that "He who can destroy a thing, controls that thing." He is willing to destroy civilization as he knows it, and knows the Guild is not.
**** Herbert explains much of why Paul does what he does in a set of correspondence with the legendary [[John W. Campbell]], where the two of them mutually note that Paul is a ''teenaged boy'' with vast knowledge, esoteric powers, and now enormous political and economic power, but he's not really wise. He can't be wise, not yet. He doesn't have enough life experience to be wise. His later actions prove this to be painfully true. His intentions are (mostly) good, but he makes a mess on a truly epic scale and it falls to his son Leto II to really clean things up.
* ''[[Discworld]]''
** [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[
** Actually, logic works perfectly in Discworld once you account for the trope-based physics there. Purposefully lowering your chances until you have only one in a million chance has actually been used as a successful battle plan in the books.
*** Or rather, it's been attempted by the [[Genre Savvy]], who inevitably fail because they aren't statisticians, and therefore fail to make their chances ''exactly'' a million to one because they're working with rough estimates. They will then be saved by some other thing which ''is'' exactly a million to one.
** Parodied in ''[[
*** That, and he's in the Fairyland that tends to drive people insane if they spend too much time there.
** Ponder Stibbons in [[Terry Pratchett]]'s books that involve wizards is often assigned this role, and gets to express frustration because he lives in a world where thunderbolts really are signs of gods' annoyance instead of massive bursts of static electricity.
*** The books often lampshade this outlook as neither rational nor healthy by describing it as a "curse".
* The ''[[Warhammer
** Space Marines ''don't'' work on logic. They run entirely on [[Honor Before Reason]] - let's not forget that these are people who were designed largely to fight and die in battle. These particular Space Marines descend from Rogal Dorn, who was noted for being headstrong. And they are ''pissed'' at the Adeptus Mechanicus for stealing a relic they've spent 1000 years trying to find after it was lost.
** [[Didn't See That Coming|The starfort the Soul Drinkers were occupying proved to have a wing of fighter craft onboard]].
** There's also the possibility that the Soul Drinkers would've sent a message to their "ancestor" chapter, detailing what this faction of the Mechanicus had done directly after attacking the ship, rather than picking up the [[Conflict Ball]] and [[Idiot Ball|sulking in a corner, letting the Mechanicus cast all the blame on them without even trying to defend their own actions or condemn theirs.]]
* Possible example in [[E. E. Cummings]]'s poem ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120819132502/http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/feeling.html since feeling is first]'', although it doesn't say logic is wrong per se, simply that it's less important than love.
* Subverted by Paul Redeker in [[World War Z]]. While his rather [[Emotions vs. Stoicism|amoral]] plans to save {{spoiler|parts of}} the white population of South Africa during a black uprising make him universally despised, these plans end up {{spoiler|saving millions}}.
** To be fair, he does have a breakdown after Mandela embraces him to endorse his plan.
* Dagny Taggart and the other protagonists of ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]'' are repeatedly accused of being this by the ''[[Strawman Emotional]]'' antagonists.
* Used in the second ''[[Little Fuzzy]]'' book in the character of Jan Christiaan Hoenveld. It's pointed out that this is why he doesn't make a very good scientist.
** More specifically, its pointed out why he makes a poor choice as a researcher, which requires a capacity for speculative thinking. As a scientific ''investigator'' he is first-class, and acknowledged as such. The problem is that he was assigned as head of Research & Development, not Quality Control.
* Played with interestingly in E.E. "Doc" Smith's [[Skylark Series]]. The Llurdi, introduced in the fourth book, are an ''absurdly'' logical race. They have virtually no imagination or creative ability, rely on other 'illogical' races to make intuitive theoretical breakthroughs and confine themselves simply to applied engineering using physics principles discovered by others, often reason from extended syllogisms, and their entire body of philosphical thought (let alone their governmental system) is limited to a variant of rule utiliarianism. However, despite this they seem engineered to ''avert'' every single one of the Straw Vulcan characteristics listed at the top of this page, save for the one about creativity:
** The Llurdi avert the [[Perfect Solution Fallacy]] hardcore. Their response to a situation is the one they compute has the best chance of working, regardless of whether that is 100% or not. In fact, in one specific scene the Llurdi's ruler orders a defensive system to be prepared "so that no even theoretically possible attack on this planet will succeed", but the Llurdi engineers still do not get caught up seeking an unattainable perfection but simply stop once their system has contingencies sufficient to handle any contingency they compute has a probability greater than 0.01%.
** The Llurdi are entirely willing to use a plan that makes a short-term sacrifice for a long-term gain. In one scene, after it is made absolutely plain that a captive population absolutely refuses to breed in captivity and artificial insemination is not viable, the Llurdi simply release them back into the wild -- with the intent of following them later and abducting at least some of the children they will have years later.
** The Llurdi not only expect and prepare for illogical (by Llurdi standards) behavior from every other sentient race in the universe, they are actually nonplused on the few occasions that other sentients match them logic for logic.
** The 'mathematical models' one is the only subtrope that the Llurdi even begin to fall into -- but given that Llurdan logic allows for both inductive and statistical methods along with deductive ones, they're doing no worse than real-world humans are regarding math limits.
** In a complete reversal of the 'logical' race needing excessive time to ponder every response, it is explicitly mentioned and demonstrated in text that Llurdi have a faster reaction time to unexpected emergencies than any other sentient race in the universe. The author directly lampshades that a ''truly'' 'perfectly logical' mind would not have its performance inhibited by ''any'' form of emotion -- and "shock" and "surprise" are both emotions. In one scene a council of senior Llurdan bureaucrats are subject to a terrorist attack in the middle of a government meeting with absolutely no warning -- and immediately react to the attack with a speed and precision more characteristic of veteran special operations troops, because they were able to instantaneously process the new data and formulate a useful response.
== Live-Action TV ==
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'''McCoy:''' You admit that?
'''Spock:''' To deny the obvious would be illogical. }}
***Spock is the one being(shock!)illogical. Taking account of the illogic of others is logical, in fact it is not doing so that is illogical(if you play roulette you do not assume the rules are the same as chess). Furthermore it is not true even that Spock is dealing with illogic. All the mobsters are following the logic of clan politics which is the same clan politics as has been there for thousands of years, was normal on Earth until recently, is still normal among Klingons, and once was normal among Vulcans. People immersed in such a situation can and do get emotional about it but ultimately they do not survive by being stupid.
** 'Requiem for Methuselah' has [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuQCt5xWeDc Forget]
** Subverted ''and'' inverted in an episode of ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|Deep Space Nine]]''; Sarkona, a Vulcan, joins the Maquis because she agrees with their position and believes their rather crude and barbaric actions to achieve "peace" to be logical... but she's called out by ''Quark'', locked in the brig with her after her plans are exposed, noting that, as the Federation had caught the Cardassians (the Maquis' enemies) red-handed supplying their people with weapons to fight against the Maquis, sitting down with them and hammering out an arrangement would bring the peace in better and "at a bargain price" compared to continuing the fight.
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* ''[[Bones]]'' lives on the [[Odd Couple]] relationship between emotional and intuitive Booth and logical and rational Brennan: she's frequently shown as being wrong in the end, or being right for the wrong reasons.
** It get's really jarring when you consider that Bones is very rarely rational or logical at all. In a recent episode Angela pointed out that one of Brennan's skills is, rather than being rational, ''rationalizing'' her actions.
***In some ways she is. When she says she is the best scientist in the country, it is not because she is bragging. It is because ''she is the best scientist in the country'' and it is absurd to waste time pretending otherwise. When she corrects someone else's error she is not trying to annoy them. It is because she really would want to be corrected when she is wrong. It is not her logic that is at fault it is her information deficiency that comes from not sensing other's emotions.
**** The point being made is that its a failure in her logic to not ''realize'' that she has this 'information deficiency' problem and take appropriate coping measures. To be unable to recognize your limitations and act accordingly is not logical. Especially when its a ''known syndrome''.
*** Consider her as borderline [[Hollywood Autism]] who was severely emotionally damaged when her parents abandoned her. All of a sudden her retreat into pseudorationality makes sense. It's still annoying.
** When Brennan [[Easy Amnesia|lost her memory of the last couple days]] and was framed for murder; she argued ''in favor her own guilt'' as the most logical conclusion even though the police had no motive whatsoever and Booth pointed out she was not capable of murder.
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* One episode of ''M*A*S*H'' featured a logistics expert who was treated as little more than a cold and calculating monster because he projected casualties before a battle in order to make preparations for receiving them. By the end of the episode, of course, Hawkeye had taught him the "error" of his ways. Also overlaps, as these things often do, with [[Straw Man Has a Point]].
* In the ''[[Modern Family]]'' episode "Lifetime Supply", Jay and Manny go the horse track with Manny's father, Javier ([[Law and Order|Benjamin Bratt]]). Jay chooses his horses based on the information in the ''Daily Racing Form''. Javier bets on a horse because "I looked him in the eyes, and he told me this would be his day". Guess who wins? To add insult to injury, Jay chooses a horse this way and ''it'' wins ... only to be disqualified.
== Music ==
* In the [[Grateful Dead]] song ''Terrapin Station'', a potential love interest [[Secret Test of Character|tests]] the [[Single Woman Seeks Good Man|worthiness]] of the heros, a [[The Spock|soldier]] and a [[The McCoy|sailor]], by [[Moral Dissonance|throwing her fan into the lion's den]] and promising her love to whoever would retreive it for her. The sailor [[Mad Love|decides to]], while the soldier refuses, and says "Strategy is my strength, not disaster." The sailor [[Million-to-One Chance|succeeds, and gets the girl, rather than getting his ass handed to him by the lions]].
* The whole point of [[Billy Joel]]'s hit, "I Go To Extremes":
{{quote|''Darling I don't know why I got to extremes
''Too high or too low there ain't no in-betweens
''And if I stand or I fall
''It's all or nothing at all
''Darling I don't know why I got to extremes''.}}
== Tabletop Games ==
* Tech-Priests in ''[[Warhammer
** To be fair, most characters in the lore think they are straight up nuts and their methods of fixing stuff are not so much logical as they are religious doctrines. The rite of pressing the "on" rune is a common one. It involves much prayer and chanting. Though it's very [[Depending on the Writer]] - sometimes they need to chant before activating a light panel, [http://www.servantsoftheimperium.com/comic.php?comicid=49 sometimes] just enough ritual to make things more satisfying.
* A variation of this can happen to Alchemicals in ''[[Exalted]]''—as they grow into cities, install Exemplar charms, or go long periods without human interaction, they accumulate Clarity. The sourcebook for Alchemicals goes out of its way to point out that this means they focus on efficiency and do not become needlessly cruel.
** [[Subverted Trope|On the other hand]], most can become aware of this and are usually willing to at least listen to their more emotional advisers.
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** There's also the scene where she had {{spoiler|Greyfield/Sigismundo at her mercy, and he tries to save himself by pointing out that [[If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him|she'd be doing the same thing he did]]. She agrees... and shoots him anyway.}}
* The New Enlightenment in the [[Interactive Fiction]] ''Square Circle'' embodies this.
* ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'': {{spoiler|Onion Knight}} gets this, spelled out in that story's ending narration: {{spoiler|"He thought that avoiding mistakes and making decisions based on logic - instead of emotion - was the only way to reach the truth. But the boy has learned ... that he can tap into immeasurable strength when he searches deep inside his heart."}}
* Before gaining emotions, [[The Spock|Gale]] of ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]'' is one of these. One plan has him suggest destroying an abandoned Ocean Liner to kill a Chronic Backstabber, even though it's implied in the second game that the ship {{spoiler|has some emotional significance to the [[Mysterious Waif]]}}. He also doesn't understand things such as Argilla's anguish after {{spoiler|Jinana dies}} and why [[Honor Before Reason|Lupa vows upon his honor.]]
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* ''[[Shortpacked]]'' parodies an instance of this from ''[[G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra]]'' in [http://www.shortpacked.com/index.php?id=980 this strip].
** Willis labeled the strip "Is this something already covered by [[TV Tropes]]? I haven't checked yet." in his update blog.
* ''[[xkcd]]'' had "[https://xkcd.com/1112/ Think Logically]".
== Western Animation ==
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== Real Life ==
* every SMWCentral moderator and administrator.
* The [[Josef Stalin|Stalin era]] Soviet Union followed the 'everything but this specific model is not really logic'. For example, probability mathematics was declared a 'bourgeois pseudoscience' and the Law of Large Numbers a 'false theory'. The idea of anything less than [[You Can't Fight Fate|perfect and total determinism]] just somehow ''irked'' them. Things improved a bit after Stalin croaked, and but the damage had already been done.
** Bear in mind, this is a government which banned ''genetics'' because things like Mendel's laws were incompatible with their politics. Hmm... [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|where have we heard]] [[The Fundamentalist|this one before]]?
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Anti-Intellectualism]]
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
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[[Category:Philosophy Tropes]]
[[Category:Emotion Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Straw Vulcan]]
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