Monday, June 14, 2010

a false dichotomy

Pictures of Blagojevich: A crook or a fool?
This is yet another media example of a false dichotomy.
It is quite possible for Blagojevich to be BOTH a crook AND a fool!... and it may be that he is neither!

True dichotomies meet two simple criteria:
They are mutually exclusive.
("crook or fool" fails this test)

They are exhaustive - there are no other possibilities.
("crook or fool" fails this test, too!)
This has been today's logic lesson.

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