Apriorism: making you wrong, every time.
I have been victim to it, but more than often I have victimized others using it. Apriorism is the logical fallacy of making hasty generalizations. It is leaping from one experience to a general conclusion. Example from my last post: "Boys are dumb." One boy in my life is being "dumb" and I apply that label to all boys.
Surely, since I haven't interacted with every male on the planet I this label cannot be true. Statistically, the odds of every male being dumb is improbable. Not impossible, but highly unlikely. Say that, perhaps, I have never met a male that isn't dumb. Some may argue that the statement "Boys are dumb" to be true because it can't be proved false (at least with our current knowledge). That, my dear readers, is an offense of ad ignorantium. The logical fallacy that appeals to ignorance, or arguing that if something hasn't been proved false that it must be true. (Aren't logical fallacies fun?)
What I'm trying to get at is that forming these hasty generalizations will never make you right. Do you like being wrong? I sure don't. It's one of my least favorite things. Since I love you all dearly, I want to save you from this. So what if Amanda is crazy, not all girls are crazy. Who cares if Jake doesn't pick up on your hints, not all boys are dense. And that nerd in your class, Stewart. Yeah he smells, but not all nerds smell.
This is all common sense. I know you know this, people. But when you make those statements without modifiers such as "most", "all the ______ I know", or "a lot of", you will be wrong. It's as simple as that.
Surely, since I haven't interacted with every male on the planet I this label cannot be true. Statistically, the odds of every male being dumb is improbable. Not impossible, but highly unlikely. Say that, perhaps, I have never met a male that isn't dumb. Some may argue that the statement "Boys are dumb" to be true because it can't be proved false (at least with our current knowledge). That, my dear readers, is an offense of ad ignorantium. The logical fallacy that appeals to ignorance, or arguing that if something hasn't been proved false that it must be true. (Aren't logical fallacies fun?)
What I'm trying to get at is that forming these hasty generalizations will never make you right. Do you like being wrong? I sure don't. It's one of my least favorite things. Since I love you all dearly, I want to save you from this. So what if Amanda is crazy, not all girls are crazy. Who cares if Jake doesn't pick up on your hints, not all boys are dense. And that nerd in your class, Stewart. Yeah he smells, but not all nerds smell.
This is all common sense. I know you know this, people. But when you make those statements without modifiers such as "most", "all the ______ I know", or "a lot of", you will be wrong. It's as simple as that.
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