Recap:
I thought I should gave Petey his girl back, then I decided to wasted
another night on it. I discussed with her some more fallacies next night.
Ad Misericordiam and False Analogy. And I thought she might have
learned something.
Doggedly I pressed on. "Next we`ll try Hypothesis Contrary to Fact."
"Sounds yummy," was Polly`s reaction. "Listen: If Madam Curie had not happened to leave a photographic plate in a drawer with a chunk of pitchblende, the world today would not know about radium."
"True, true," said Polly, nodding her head. "Did you see the movie? Oh, it just knocked me oput. That Walter Pidgeon is so dreamy. I mean he fractures me."
"If you can forget Mr. Pidgeon for a moment," I said coldly. "I would like to point out that the statement is a fallacy. May be Madam Curie would have discovered radium at some later date. May be somebody else would have discovered it. May be any number of things would happened. You can`t start with a hypothesis that is not true and then draw any supportable conclusion from it."
"They ought to put Walter Pidgeon in more pictures," said Polly. "I hardly ever see him anymore."
One more chance, I decided. But just one more. There is a limit to what flesh and blood can bear. "The next fallacy is called Poisoning the Well."
"How cute!" she gurgled.
"Two men are having a debate. The first one gets up and says, 'My opponent is a notorious liar. You can`t believe a word that he is gooing to say'........... Nom, Polly, think. Think hard. What`s wrong?"
I watched her closely as she knit her creamy brown in concentration. Suddenly a glimmer of intelligence -- the first I had seen ... came into her eyes. "It`s not fair," she said with indignation. "It`s not a bit fair. What chance has the second man got if the first man calls him a liar before he even begins talking?" "Right!" I cried exultanty. "One hundred percent right. It`s not fair. The first man has poisoned the well before anybody could drink from it. He has hamstrung his opponent before he could even start.....
Polly, I`m proud of you."
"Pshaw," she murmured, blushing with pleasure.
"You see, my dear, these things aren`t so hard. All you have to do is concentrate. Think -- examine -- evalute. Come now, let`s review everything we have learned."
"Fireaway." she said with an airy wave of her hand.
Heartened by the knowledge that Polly was not altogether a cretin, I began a long, patient review of all I had told her. Over and over and over again I cited instances, pointed out flwas, kept hammering away without let up. It was like digging a tunnel. At first everything was work, sweet and darkness. I had no idea when I would reach the light, or even If I would. But I persisted. I pounded and clawed and scraped, and finally I was rewarded. I saw a chink of light. And then the chink got bigger and the sun came pouring in and all was bright.
(Next week last part,to be continue…)
Max Schulman
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