[lit-ideas] The "Mind Changing" Fallacy

From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2004 20:08:47 EDT
 
 
In a message dated 9/3/2004 1:06:28 AM Eastern Standard Time,  
Robert.Paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
This
is not fallacious reasoning; it is, as far as I can see, an  example of 
someone's
changing his mind. And when people change their minds,  their present views 
are
surely different from their former views, by  definition. There would be no
inconsistency between believing at one time  that Smith was guilty and then
coming to believe that he wasn't; what would  be inconsistent would be to 
believe
that he was ceteris paribus guilty and  not guilty.


-----
 
I agree.

Note that however mind-changing can provoke a lot of fallacious  reasoning.
 
   e.g.
 
   Adam K:
 
       People who are dead are at  peace.
 
  Geary intervenes:
 
      What are you talking about? Never heard the  phrase.
 
   Adam K. qualifies ('changes' his mind)

 
     People who are dead are not really at peace. 
 
-----
 
The idea is that in a chain of reasoning, the same premises are held by the  
individual. So if B decides not to cut down the tree, and then concludes that 
he  does cut down the tree, it _is_ slightly fallacious -- in the sense that 
B's  first 'practical' reasoning _fail_ to give the desired consequence, and a 
second  consequence (or conclusion) was adopted.
 
Or consider
 
      "7 + 5 = 12" is analytic (Kant, Kr. R. V.,  II, section 45)
      But "12 = 7 + 5" is _not_ analytic (Kant,  Kr. R. V., II, section 46 -- 
                  footnote to 2nd edition.
       -----------------------------------------------------
      Therefore, "7 + 5" is analytic and it is not  analytic.
 
It's intersting that the idiom is "change the mind" while it should be a  
_partial_ change in the mind (one generally does not abandon _all_ ideas  
constituting the 'mind'). It's also redundant that people say, "I changed _my_  
mind" 
-- while they use "the" in "the mind boggles"). I suppose the implicature  is 
that they can always change other people's minds...
 
Cheers,
 
JL


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[lit-ideas] The "Mind Changing" Fallacy

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