Logic: Love is a Fallacy (Part IV )( On Every Sunday )

I had my first date with Polly the following evening. This was in the nature of a survey; I wanted to find out just how much work I had to do to get her mind up to the standard required. I took her first to dinner, "Gee, that was a delish dinner,"she said as we left the restaurant.Then I took her to movie." Gee that was a marvy movie," she said as we left the theater. And then I took her home. " Gee, I had a sensaysh time, " she said as she bade me good night.

I went back to my room with a heavy heart. I had gravely underestimated the size of my task. This girl's lack of information was terrifying. Nor would it be enough merely to supply her with information. first she had to be taught to think.This loomed as a project of no small dimensions, and at first I was tempted to give her back to Petey. But then I got to thinking about her abundant physical charms and about the way she entered a room and the way she handled a knife and fork, and I decided to make an effort.

I went about it, as in all things, systematically. I gave her a course in logic. It happened that I, as a law student, was taking a course in logic myself, so I had all the facts at my finger tips. " Polly, " I said to her when I picked her up on our next date," tonight we are going over to the Knoll and talk."
   
" Oo, terrif," she replied.One thing I will say for this girl: you would go far to find another so agreeable.

We went to the Knoll, the campus trysting place, and we sat down under an old oak, and she looked at me expectantly. " What are we going to talk about?" she asked.

"Logic."

She thought this over for a minute and decided she liked it. " Magnif, " she said.

" Logic, " I said, clearing my throat, " is the science of thinking. Before we can think correctly, we must first learn to recognize the fallacies of logic. These we will take up tonight."

" Wow-dow!" she cried, clapped her hands delightedly.


I winced, but went bravely on.

" First let us examine the fallacy called Dicto  Simplicitor". By all means, she urged, batting her lashes eagerly. " Dicto Simplicitor means an argument based on an unqualified generalization. For example: Exercise is good. Therefore everybody should take exercise."

" I agree, " said Polly earnestly. " I mean exercise is wonderful. I mean it builds the body and everything."

" Polly, " I said gently, " the argument is a fallacy. Exercise is good is an unqualified generalization. For instance, if you have heart disease, exercise is bad, not good. Many people are ordered by their doctors not to exercise. You must qualify the generalization.You must say exercise is usually good, or exercise is good for most people. Otherwise you have committed a Dicto Simplicitor.Do you see'?"

"No," she confessed.