Logical fallacies examples – appeal to novelty and age

As always let's begin with a simple definition. A logical fallacy is an error in reasoning which usually relies on a wrong assumption made in the argument. Appeal to emotion is one of the most popular types of logical fallacies – examples of these fallacies may be very often found in the advertisement. Today I would like to describe you two very popular fallacies relying on appeal to emotion – argumentum ad novitatem and argumentum ad antiquitatem. You will be surprised how often we are unaware of these reasoning tricks. You may ask – why should I care about the fallacies at all? Well, developing your critical thinking skills is necessary not only if you want to succeed in philosophy but practically in (well, almost) every profession. It's very likely that while arguing you have used these fallacies yourself without even noticing them.

Tabula rasa – blank slate – meaning

We’ve already dealt with free will and determinism; however, you may still wonder what’s the origin of your mind. According to tabula rasa theory your mental content comes only from your experience. The meaning of tabula rasa originates from Latin “blank slate” or “white paper”; it means that you’re born with an empty mind which is to be filled with your life experiences which, according to tabula rasa theory, are the unique source of mental content. One of the most famous philosophers who held belief in tabula rasa is probably English philosopher John Locke who claimed that “all ideas come from sensation or reflection”. It sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?

Personally, I don’t believe in tabula rasa theory. There are numerous literary works which aim to prove that we are not born with tabula rasa. Some of them (such as "Lord of the Flies" by W. Golding) seem to convince the reader of an innate evil, others (such as a classic of children’s literature "Pollyanna" by E. H. Porter) claim that all people are born good. It shows how different philosophical theories may be when it comes to mind – tabula rasa, innate evil, or innate goodness. Are you really born with tabula rasa then?

Solipsism: do others exist in your mind only?

Solipsism is one of the most interesting theories of mind. Why? I’ll tell you how solipsists define solipsism. Get ready, solipsism definition is as follows: one’s own mind is all that can be known to exist. But what does solipsism really mean? Not only solipsists and philosophers in general know the meaning of solipsism – also average people like you and me have probably experienced solipsism as a child (infant solipsism). Solipsism is so convincing that there is even a solipsism syndrome – therefore you could actually suffer from solipsism. If you’re not afraid to start doubting in others’ existence, continue reading…

Think about your childhood. What’s your first memory? Most people can trace their memories back to the time they were about 3 or 4 years old. You probably can’t remember from your own experience what had happened before your 3^rd birthday or even if you are it’s almost impossible to have any memories before 2^nd birthday. How can you know what had happened before then?

Defining free will – Schopenhauer and compatibilism

Arthur Schopenhauer
(1788-1860)

In the last post about determinism and free will it was stated that according to the determinism definition and the examples we’ve dealt with it is impossible to prove that we have free will. In fact, deterministic reasoning suggests that we have no free will; however, there are various branches of determinism – for instance compatibilism (since William James called also soft determinism). What’s the definition of compatibilism and what’s so interesting about it? The interesting part of it is probably combining free will with determinism – according to compatibilism free will can exist even if our actions are determined.

You may wonder how it is possible but as you’ll see the answer is really easy. It’s all about defining free will correctly (from the compatibilists’ point o view of course). It is possible to define free will in such a way that – despite deterministic limitations – free will will be still free (though it will not be free from determinants). Take a closer look to the definition of free will by Arthur Schopenhauer:

Determinism and free will

In the post about materialism and substance dualism we’ve briefly dealt with the problem of making decisions (such as standing up). But did you really have free will to actually decide to stand up? Well, according to the determinism theory you did not. Why did you stand up then? Determinism definition states that all events are ultimately determined by causes which are independent of the will. There are many examples of determinism and – as in the case of most philosophical theories – there are various branches of determinism including soft and hard determinism (known also as compatibilism and metaphysical determinism). If you want to see how determinism works practically, click "read more" (or if you already did then start reading the next paragraph…