66 She thought this over for a minute and decided she liked it. \(=magnificent),\

67 \Before we can think correctly, we must first learn to recognize the common fallacies of logic. These we will take up tonight.\ 68 \ 69 I winced, but went bravely on. \called Dicto Simpliciter.\

70 \

71, \generalization. For example: Exercise is good. Therefore everybody should exercise.\

72 \mean it builds the body and everything.\

73 \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

Simpliciter. Do you see?\Do morel\

75 \when she desisted, I continued: \

Generalization. Listen carefully: You can't speak French. I can't speak French. Petey Burch can't speak French. I must therefore conclude that nobody at the University of Minnesota can speak French.\

76 \

77 I hid my exasperation. \reached too hastily. There are too few instances to support such a conclusion.\ 78 \fun than dancing even.\

79 I fought off a wave of despair. I was getting nowhere with this girl absolutely nowhere. Still, I am nothing if not persistent. I continued.

80 \picnic. Every time we take him out with us, it rains.\

81 \

home--Eula Becker, her name is, it never falls. Every single time we take her on a picnic--\

82 \rain. She has no connection with the rain. You are guilty of Post Hoc if you blame Eula Becker.\

83 \at me?\

84 I sighed deeply. \ 85 \

86 \ 87 \

88 I frowned, but plunged ahead. \Premises: If God can do anything, can He make a stone so heavy that He won't be able to lift it?\

89 \

90 \ 91 \stone.\

92 \

93 She scratched her pretty, empty head. \admitted.

94 \contradict each other, there can be no argument. If there is an irresistible force, there can be no immovable object. If there is an immovable object, there can be no irresistible force. Get it?\

95 \

96 I consulted my watch. \you home now, and you go over all the things you've learned. We'll have another session tomorrow night.\

97 I deposited her at the girls' dormitory, where she assured me that she had had a perfectly terrif evening, and I went glumly to my room. Petey lay snoring in his bed, the raccoon coat huddled like a great hairy beast at his feet. For a moment I considered waking him and telling him that he could have his girl back. It seemed clear that my project was doomed to failure. The girl simply had a logic-proof head.

98 But then I reconsidered. I had wasted one evening: I might as well waste another. Who knew? Maybe somewhere in the extinct crater of her mind, a few embers still smoldered. Maybe somehow I could fan them into flame. Admittedly it was not a prospect fraught with hope, but I decided to give it one more try.

99 Seated under the oak the next evening I said, \tonight is called Ad Misericordiam.\

100 She quivered with delight.

101 \asks him what his qualifications are, he replies that he has a wife and six

children at home, the wife is a helpless cripple, the children have nothing to eat, no clothes to wear, no shoes on their feet, there are no beds in the house, no coal in the cellar, and winter is coming.\

102 A tear rolled down each of Polly's pink cheeks. \awful,\

103 \answered the boss's questions about his qualifications. Instead he appealed to the boss's sympathy. He committed the fallacy of Ad Misericordiam. Do you understand?\

104 \

105 I handed her a handkerchief and tried to keep from screaming while she wiped her eyes. \discuss False Analogy. Here is an example: Students should be allowed to look at their textbooks during examinations. After all, surgeons have X-rays to guide them during an operation, lawyers have briefs to guide them during a trial, carpenters have blueprints to guide them when they are building a house. Why,

then, shouldn't students be allowed to look at their textbooks during an examination?\

106 \I've heard in years.\

107 \and carpenters aren't taking a test to see how much they have learned, but students are. The situations are altogether different, and you can't make an analogy between them.\

108 \

109 \Hypothesis Contrary to Fact.\

110 \

111 \

photographic plate in a drawer with a chunk of pitchblende (n.沥青油矿), the world today would not know about radium .\

112 \Oh, it just knocked me out. That Walter Pidgeon is so dreamy. I mean he fractures me.\

113 \would like to point out that the statement is a fallacy. Maybe Madame Curie would have discovered radium at some later date. Maybe somebody else would have discovered it. Maybe any number of things would have happened. You can't start with a hypothesis that is not true and then draw any supportable conclusions from it.\

114 \\

115 One more chance, I decided. But just one more. There is a limit to what flesh and blood can bear. \

116 \

117 \opponent is a notorious liar. You can't believe a word that he is going to say. '... Now, Polly, think. Think hard. What's wrong?\

118 I watched her closely as she knit her creamy brow in concentration. Suddenly, a g1immer of intelligence—the first I had seen--came into her eyes. \second man got if the first man calls him a liar before he even begins talking?\ 119 \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.\

120 \

121 \concentrate. Think--examine—evaluate. Come now, let's review everything we have learned.”

122 \

123 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 flaws, kept hammering away without let-up. It was like digging a tunnel. At first everything was work, sweat, 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. 124 Five grueling nights this took, but it was worth it. I had made a logician out of Polly; I had taught her to think. My job was done. She was worthy of me at last. She was a fit wife for me, a proper hostess for my many mansions, a suitable mother for my well-heeled children.

125 It must not be thought that I was without love for this girl. Quite the contrary, Just as Pygmalion loved the perfect woman he had fashioned, so I loved mine. I determined to acquaint her with my feeling at our very next meeting. The time had come to change our relationship from academic to romantic.

126 \not discuss fallacies.\

127 \

128 \five evenings together. We have gotten along splendidly. It is clear that we are well matched.”