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Literary notes about Fallacy (AI summary)

The term "fallacy" in literature is wielded both as a precise label for logical missteps and as a broader commentary on flawed reasoning within human thought. Philosophical reflections, such as those by Santayana, Kant, and Emerson, invoke it to signal intrinsic errors in how natural and moral truths are perceived [1, 2, 3]. In more technically inclined discussions, particularly those in the realm of symbolic logic exemplified by Lewis Carroll’s analytical breakdowns, it categorizes specific types of reasoning mistakes [4, 5, 6, 7]. Meanwhile, in psychological and sociological contexts, figures like William James extend the term, critiquing common cognitive misunderstandings through designations like the "psychologist's fallacy" [8, 9, 10]. Across these varied usages, "fallacy" emerges as a versatile literary device that both unmasks erroneous lines of thought and underscores the complex interplay between perception, logic, and belief [11, 12, 13].
  1. Lucifer's fallacy consisted in thinking natural inequality artificial.
    — from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana
  2. But this fallacy is not a consciously devised one, but a perfectly natural illusion of the common reason of man.
    — from The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
  3. The fallacy lay in the immense concession that the bad are successful; that justice is not done now.
    — from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson
  4. [Fallacy of Unlike Eliminands with an Entity-Premiss.] 34.
    — from Symbolic Logic by Lewis Carroll
  5. [Fallacy of Like Eliminands not asserted to exist.]
    — from Symbolic Logic by Lewis Carroll
  6. Fallacy of Unlike Eliminands with an Entity-Premiss. 7. Concl.
    — from Symbolic Logic by Lewis Carroll
  7. [Fallacy of Unlike Eliminands with an Entity-Premiss.] 9.
    — from Symbolic Logic by Lewis Carroll
  8. I shall hereafter call this the 'psychologist's fallacy' par excellence .
    — from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James
  9. The task was a hard one, in which what we called the psychologist's fallacy ( p. 196 ff
    — from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James
  10. It is a case of the 'psychologist's fallacy' (see p. 197 ).
    — from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James
  11. Its source is not inference at all but direct emotion and the pathetic fallacy.
    — from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana
  12. But those who look into the matter more deeply are sometimes misled by a fallacy, much more plausible to reasonableness.
    — from The Economic Consequences of the Peace by John Maynard Keynes
  13. Speaking generally, the fundamental fallacy in methods of instruction lies in supposing that experience on the part of pupils may be assumed.
    — from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey

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