Gordian Reasoning

One of the FallaciousArguments...GordianReasoning is similar to CircularReasoning, but far more complex. With circular reasoning, one encounters arguments like:

 A -> B and B -> A, therefore A and B are true.

Sometimes the cycle has more than two nodes, though it's usually a small number. Occasionally, a rather cheeky advocate will attempt a 1-element cycle--A -> A, therefore A is true--but that's usually trivial to spot.

In GordianReasoning, on the other hand, one encounters a huge, well-connected directed graph of arguments (with nodes corresponding to positions and edges corresponding to implication) containing numerous cycles--but most or all of the nodes (arguments) in the graph are not reachable from the root set (arguments which are accepted by all parties to be true), or any connection to the root set is impaired with some other fallacy. The collection of logic is so vast and complicated that it's virtually impossible for anyone to hack his way through the thicket and demonstrate that the bulk of the argument is not supported by anything.

When one encounters this, one really needs a RhetoricalGarbageCollector


EditText of this page (last edited July 7, 2007) or FindPage with title or text search